the response was ‘terrific

Apart from desperately trying to revive a 'dead patient', the response was 'terrific'

BMC DISASTER MANAGEMENT CELL
    The assessors reserved their loudest applause for the civic Disaster Management Cell led by deputy municipal commissioner S S Shinde and chief officer Vilas Vaidya. Dr Stuart Weiss from Medprep Consulting, who was on the assessing team, said, "I was at the BMC disaster management cell throughout the entire drill. They are absolutely terrific. I am impressed with their professionalism.'' Apart from gathering information from others involved in the drill (and disseminating it quickly over the wireless), the cell also passed a special test devised for it: procuring a heavyduty crane meant to carry tonnes of material. "I asked them for it, and within five minutes it was ready,'' said Dr Weiss.
HINDUJA HOSPITAL
    The drill was treated as an emergency here. "Terrific,'' said assessor Dr Daniel Meisels, director of emergency medicine at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, "We'd love to recruit these physicians and nurses back home.'' The drill began as soon as a call from the BMC disaster management cell was received: blood banks were told to keep stocks of rare groups ready, an area for VIPs and media was set up outside the casualty ward, and a backup was commissioned in case of power failure. A decontamination zone was marked out, as the control room had hinted at a radiation leak. On the flipside, the "patients'' were not sure where to go, and kept returning to the casualty.
KEM HOSPITAL
    This was the only blip on the BMC mark-list. "People were enthusiastic, but the system wasn't,'' said the main assessor about public hospital's performance. For one, the Commander (as is desirable in an emergency response set-up) was not visible for people to rush to him or her for help. Communication was poor. Moreover, there were instances of "patients'' being given wrong treatment: a "dead'' person with a black band indicating his condition was being revived by four doctors. Linen was never changed. "Obviously, the drill was not taken seriously by senior staff,'' said the assessor. But Dr Rob Bristow from New York-Presbyterian Hospital observed that given the heavy flow — 200 "patients'' in two hours — the hospital's response was impressive.
FIRE BRIGADE
    The men in blue got many kudos. They were the heroes at Shivaji Park with their wireless vans, ambulances and essential fire-fighting equipment. "We had to innovate a lot,'' said fireman S D Sawant during the briefing to assess the disaster management drill. Bystanders and media had rushed into the "disaster'' sites, requiring the firemen to take on the role of policemen and get them out. Zones for patients with varying degrees of "wounds'' were quickly prepared, and mock patients carried to ambulances and ferried to hospitals. "The firemen really did well,'' said a representative for the Dial 1298 for Ambulance. The Fire Brigade, which is part of the BMC monolith, stood out as an example of efficiency. POLICE
    The police were conspicuous by their absence. Firemen complained that without the police to manage the "crowds'' at the site of the mock blast at Shivaji Park, they had to call in for reinforcements and take on the responsibility of policing bystanders.
    Reporting by Malathy Iyer, Madhavi Rajadhyaksha, Chinmayi Shalya and Sukhada Tatke

HEAD ON ITS SHOULDERS: The disaster management cell was well organised

ATTENTION TO DETAIL: Hinduja Hospital staff attend to a 'patient'

COULD DO BETTER: KEM did not cope very well

QUICK MOVES: Firemen evacuated 'victims' while doubling as cops