EVERY INJURY IMAGINABLE
Every injury imaginable'
By Niall Blaney
VICTIMS of the Omagh bombing suffered almost every type of injury possible, a leading surgeon said yesterday.
Medical staff handling the wounded at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital said many patients were not aware that they had been caught up in a bomb explosion.
They said the victims had been in a "tunnel-like situation" when they were running toward the bomb as it exploded.
Brian McNicholl, an accident and emergency consultant, said: "Bomb blasts cause a huge variety of injuries, both because of the direct bomb blast and also because of the shrapnel that goes with them.
Consequently you see almost every type of injury that a person can get, including burns. We have actually seen all of this over the last few days.
"The internal injuries are of course the most life-threatening and the most serious. Almost all the patients will have shrapnel wounds which mean cuts and wounds to almost every part of their body and these will leave permanent scars."
RVH chief executive William McKee said the hospital had been receiving thousands of phone calls a day.
There had been offers of help from nurses as far away as Dublin and offers of accommodation for relatives and staff.
He said President Mary McAleese, a former non-executive director at the Royal, had phoned the hospital to convey her admiration and gratitude to staff.
"I think staff are quite tired now and are beginning to reflect on the experiences of Saturday and Sunday. It brings back memories of previous atrocities that the Royal dealt with and we have offered counselling to staff who were directly involved."
Mr McKee said the RVH's emergency plan had been tested just a few days before the atrocity.
There are still 22 injured bomb victims in the RVH.
Five are men, one critical, three ill but stable and one satisfactory.
Among the 15 women, five are critical, one is ill, one ill but stable, three stable and two satisfactory.
Three other women have serious eye injuries and they are serious but stable.
There are also two Spanish children in the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children.
Dr Joe Gaston, a consultant anesthetist, said one of the children had been taken off a ventilator which he described as "a major step forward".
He said both children still had very serious brain injuries but were stable and improving.
He said a lot of people had suffered direct facial and bodily njuries because they had run into shrapnel.
"It was almost a tunnel situation and people were running towards it. Obviously the highest number of people have died but there are a very large number of people who have terrible injuries which are going to affect them for the rest of their lives.
"This is something that we have all had to come to terms with, because these are our young people of Northern Ireland, it is terrible that these people have to come to terms with this terrible act on their lives."
Lawrence Rocke, an accident and emergency consultant, said a number of people who were transferred to the RVH had already been anaesthetised.
"Most of the others who were severely injured had been given large doses of painkillers. As well as killing the pain they also act as sedatives... certainly many of those people would not have a great memory of the events and also many of the patients who were more conscious were still in a state of shock that they really didn't know what had happened."
Dr Patrick Bell, a consultant physician and disaster plan co-ordinator, said staff had been able to prepare to a certain extent because they had been warned that injured patients were being transferred to the RVH.
By Niall Blaney
VICTIMS of the Omagh bombing suffered almost every type of injury possible, a leading surgeon said yesterday.
Medical staff handling the wounded at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital said many patients were not aware that they had been caught up in a bomb explosion.
They said the victims had been in a "tunnel-like situation" when they were running toward the bomb as it exploded.
Brian McNicholl, an accident and emergency consultant, said: "Bomb blasts cause a huge variety of injuries, both because of the direct bomb blast and also because of the shrapnel that goes with them.
Consequently you see almost every type of injury that a person can get, including burns. We have actually seen all of this over the last few days.
"The internal injuries are of course the most life-threatening and the most serious. Almost all the patients will have shrapnel wounds which mean cuts and wounds to almost every part of their body and these will leave permanent scars."
RVH chief executive William McKee said the hospital had been receiving thousands of phone calls a day.
There had been offers of help from nurses as far away as Dublin and offers of accommodation for relatives and staff.
He said President Mary McAleese, a former non-executive director at the Royal, had phoned the hospital to convey her admiration and gratitude to staff.
"I think staff are quite tired now and are beginning to reflect on the experiences of Saturday and Sunday. It brings back memories of previous atrocities that the Royal dealt with and we have offered counselling to staff who were directly involved."
Mr McKee said the RVH's emergency plan had been tested just a few days before the atrocity.
There are still 22 injured bomb victims in the RVH.
Five are men, one critical, three ill but stable and one satisfactory.
Among the 15 women, five are critical, one is ill, one ill but stable, three stable and two satisfactory.
Three other women have serious eye injuries and they are serious but stable.
There are also two Spanish children in the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children.
Dr Joe Gaston, a consultant anesthetist, said one of the children had been taken off a ventilator which he described as "a major step forward".
He said both children still had very serious brain injuries but were stable and improving.
He said a lot of people had suffered direct facial and bodily njuries because they had run into shrapnel.
"It was almost a tunnel situation and people were running towards it. Obviously the highest number of people have died but there are a very large number of people who have terrible injuries which are going to affect them for the rest of their lives.
"This is something that we have all had to come to terms with, because these are our young people of Northern Ireland, it is terrible that these people have to come to terms with this terrible act on their lives."
Lawrence Rocke, an accident and emergency consultant, said a number of people who were transferred to the RVH had already been anaesthetised.
"Most of the others who were severely injured had been given large doses of painkillers. As well as killing the pain they also act as sedatives... certainly many of those people would not have a great memory of the events and also many of the patients who were more conscious were still in a state of shock that they really didn't know what had happened."
Dr Patrick Bell, a consultant physician and disaster plan co-ordinator, said staff had been able to prepare to a certain extent because they had been warned that injured patients were being transferred to the RVH.
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0679
Published Date: 18-Aug-98
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