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No hijack victim visits post-trauma cell

Amberish K Diwanji in New Delhi

It is now one month after the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight IC 814 began on Christmas eve and concluded one week later. Save for the tragic death of Rupin Katyal, most of the passengers from various parts of India and Delhi must be recovering quite well. This can be deducted from the fact that no passenger from the ill-fated aircraft turned up at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, which had set up a special cell of doctors and attendants to deal with the passengers' post-trauma recovery.

"Since the flight landed on December 31, 1999, we were all waiting and ready to deal with any special situation, whether physical or psychological. But so far, no passenger needed the attention of the special cell," said Dr D K Sharma, deputy medical superintendent at AIIMS.

Dr Sharma was the person in charge of the special cell, since the medical superintendent was on leave. AIIMS, as the premier hospital in Delhi, was literally on battle alert, but which was never called in.

The post-trauma cell is part of the AIIMS Disaster Committee, which is a standing committee ready to deal with any emergency, including handling India's top politicians. It comprises doctors who head the different departments including surgery, medicine, psychiatry, orthopaedics, paediatrics, radiology, laboratory medicine, blood bank, anaesthesia, and hospital administration. It also includes support staff such as the chief nursing officer, superintending engineers, chief of the medical social service, and others. The steering committee of the disaster team comprises the department heads of medicine, psychiatry, orthopaedics, and paediatrics.

"When the aircraft carrying the passengers touched down at Delhi, most of them went home and a few went to Safdarjung hospital to receive treatment for small wounds and bruises. But there were no major injuries suffered by any of the passengers," pointed out Dr Sharma.

"Maybe some of the passengers might have turned up at AIIMS for medical treatment, but those, in most cases, have been minor problems that a physician can treat and which does not need the attention of the special cell," added Dr Sharma.

Much concern was voiced about patients' post-hijacking trauma care, about which reams were written in the media and for which the government actually made grand plans but never implemented.

However, Dr Sharma feels there is a good reason for no patient turning up for post-traumatic care.

"In India, the best post-trauma care actually comes from the family members and from close friends. We must remember that in India, unlike the West, we have a great family support system, which is the best therapy for the affected passengers to recover from the shock. And over and above that, if one does need some small treatment for some of local symptoms, that can be easily managed by any general physician," he said.

Some of the ailments that post-trauma victims are likely to suffer include shock (neurogenic and psychological), depression, anxiety, insomnia, and psychiatric behaviour problems. The physical problems include severe aches and pain, swelling of joints and pain in the lower back, blood clots caused by being in the same position over long hours, migraine, diarrhoea and dehydration, vomiting, and exacerbation of any pre-existing illness.

It was reported that many of the passengers on their return were found suffering from high blood pressure and shock. "But they were not in as bad a condition as we feared," added Dr Sharma.

Though the doctors at AIMS on duty and off duty were ready and waiting on standby, finally they were not needed. "At 2300 hours, I called off the emergency situation and told the doctors that they could go for their New Year parties," said Dr Sharma.

For the passengers, the best medicine was being back home with their near and dear ones.

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