VETERAN HOSPITAL CONSULTANT HORRIFIED
Veteran hospital consultant 'horrified' at scenes of carnage
DESPITE working as a doctor for over 30 years, Mr Rustam Jamshidi said that he had never seen such terrible scenes in his entire medical career as those he witnessed at the Tyrone County on Saturday.
The recently retired Consultant Obstetrician/Gynaecologist had just sat down in his house on the Hospital Road, after leaving Omagh town centre when he heard the bomb explode.
He immediately rushed to the Hospital to see if he could help in any way but was horrified by the extent of the injuries of the people he saw.
"I have never seen such a chaotic scene in my life and I just didn't know who to go to first. I went up to one beautiful young girl who was in agony and she said to me 'My leg is gone'.
"I was just about to say to her that everything was alright when I lifted up the blanket and saw there was nothing there. Then I looked at her other leg and saw that the big toe was gone, it was tragic," he said.
The popular consultant spoke softly and his face was lined with sorrow as he recalled seeing so many young people and teenagers with such dreadful injuries.
"I have never seen anything like this and please God I never will see anything like it again. People were just dying around me, everyone was so distraught and shocked, in a state of disbelief. What can you do for them?"
In the hospital, Mr Jamshidi said there were countless people who were covered in blood, cuts and abrasions and he said he worked with other medical staff in trying to help everyone who needed to be treated.
As well as having to deal with so many horrific injuries, he said that he also had the dreadful task of informing people that their relatives were dead.
"What do your say to them, there is nothing you can say. I tried to bring some comfort to the people who were injured but they have been traumatised for life," he said.
However, in the midst of so much despair, Mr Jamshidi said he had been heartened by the response of so many people who had turned up at the hospital to see if they could help.
"These wonderful people just came along to give blood and asked what could they do to help. It was amazing to see such goodness and to see everyone doing their bit to help out," he added.
Another surgeon, Clive Russell has also spoken of the horror with which he was faced when victims of the bomb started arriving at the Tyrone County Hospital.
The doctor said he carried out so many amputations on Saturday, he could not recall if they were on a boy or a girl.
Dr Russell was speaking shortly after he had amputated the foot of a 10 year old child.
The Medical Director of the Sperrin Lakeland Trust said the vast majority of injuries were major orthopaedic and glass injuries and extensive shrapnel injuries to children and adults.
"There have been traumatic amputations to lower and upper limbs and some serious abdominal injuries," he added.
DESPITE working as a doctor for over 30 years, Mr Rustam Jamshidi said that he had never seen such terrible scenes in his entire medical career as those he witnessed at the Tyrone County on Saturday.
The recently retired Consultant Obstetrician/Gynaecologist had just sat down in his house on the Hospital Road, after leaving Omagh town centre when he heard the bomb explode.
He immediately rushed to the Hospital to see if he could help in any way but was horrified by the extent of the injuries of the people he saw.
"I have never seen such a chaotic scene in my life and I just didn't know who to go to first. I went up to one beautiful young girl who was in agony and she said to me 'My leg is gone'.
"I was just about to say to her that everything was alright when I lifted up the blanket and saw there was nothing there. Then I looked at her other leg and saw that the big toe was gone, it was tragic," he said.
The popular consultant spoke softly and his face was lined with sorrow as he recalled seeing so many young people and teenagers with such dreadful injuries.
"I have never seen anything like this and please God I never will see anything like it again. People were just dying around me, everyone was so distraught and shocked, in a state of disbelief. What can you do for them?"
In the hospital, Mr Jamshidi said there were countless people who were covered in blood, cuts and abrasions and he said he worked with other medical staff in trying to help everyone who needed to be treated.
As well as having to deal with so many horrific injuries, he said that he also had the dreadful task of informing people that their relatives were dead.
"What do your say to them, there is nothing you can say. I tried to bring some comfort to the people who were injured but they have been traumatised for life," he said.
However, in the midst of so much despair, Mr Jamshidi said he had been heartened by the response of so many people who had turned up at the hospital to see if they could help.
"These wonderful people just came along to give blood and asked what could they do to help. It was amazing to see such goodness and to see everyone doing their bit to help out," he added.
Another surgeon, Clive Russell has also spoken of the horror with which he was faced when victims of the bomb started arriving at the Tyrone County Hospital.
The doctor said he carried out so many amputations on Saturday, he could not recall if they were on a boy or a girl.
Dr Russell was speaking shortly after he had amputated the foot of a 10 year old child.
The Medical Director of the Sperrin Lakeland Trust said the vast majority of injuries were major orthopaedic and glass injuries and extensive shrapnel injuries to children and adults.
"There have been traumatic amputations to lower and upper limbs and some serious abdominal injuries," he added.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/0052
Published Date: 20-Aug-98
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