Assam struggles to keep blood supply going

Guwahati: An acute shortage of blood afflicted the Guwahati Medical College Hospital where doctor struggled to attend to blood-soaked and burnt victims of serial blasts.

With shock and anxiety writ large on their faces, relatives scanned for their loved ones in the ICUs and various cabins where more than 200 of the injured in the six blasts in Guwahati were rushed.

All the ICUs in GMCH are crammed with seriously injured patients.

Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarmah, who is supervising the treatment of the injured, said 21 people were brought dead to GMCH while 35 seriously injured persons have been admitted to a private nursing home, the Guwahati Neurological Research Centre (GNRC).

The Health Minister has urged the people to donate blood.

Most dead bodies were charred beyond recognition. The GMCH mortuary saw a steady rush of relatives who couldn’t trace their loved ones.

The Health Department has opened a help desk at both GMCH and Mahendra Mohan Chowdhury (MMC) hospital and a 24-hour helpline with the number 0361-2261630 has been also opened.

Several NGOs and volunteers of social organisations have come forward to donate blood and provide help to family members of the injured and those who have lost their lives.

GNRC Director Numal Borah said all the ICUs in his hospital have been filled by blast victims and all efforts would be made to help the injured.

The Health Minister said this was not the time to ponder over who is responsible for the blast but to help the injured and their relatives.

Asom Gana Parishad President Chandramohan Patowary has directed the party cadres to donate blood.

Doctors, nurses, hospital staff and employees were busy attending the victims but almost all were in a state of shock with only a few able to speak.

Nurse Anjana Saikia went about in a daze changing saline bottles muttering that in 20 years of her career she had not seen so many people suffering such severe burn injuries.

Dr G K Das, attending the critically injured patients in ICUs, said most of the victims have suffered burn injuries with glassshred injuries.

Raju Balmiki, a sweeper in the hospital, said he carried several bodies to the mortuary but had not seen bodies so severely mutilated as this time.