Delay in rescue leading to gangrene among quake victims

Delay in rescuing quake victims in far-flung and interior areas of Nepal have led to several medical complications due to gangrene setting in that has resulted in amputation in many of them.
The Indian Armed Forces Medical Corps (AMC) make-shift hospitals have alone seen 3-4 such cases over the past two days as authorities could not pull out the victims in time.
Rescue teams from several countries are pulling out the dead and injured from under the rubble, but the sheer magnitude of the devastation and terrain brought by the 7.9- magnitude Saturday temblor, coupled with bad weather is affecting the operations.

"The more the delay in treatment, the more the chances of a patient's condition worsening. Many a time, it happens that some body part is trapped under the debris. If it doesn't get adequate blood supply then that part starts dying, which results in the part turning gangrenous," said Lt Col Pawan Banga, a surgeon with the AMC.
Banga had to amputate foot of a two-and-half year-old boy in an AMC make-shift hospital.
In another such case, a woman from the interior district of Sindhupalchowk - one of the worst affected areas - was so badly injured that her left jaw was infested with maggots.

27-year-old Rishi Khanal, who was pulled out of the debris more than three days after the quake and was forced to drink his own urine to survive, also had to get one of his legs amputated.

Medical teams from several countries are on the job to save lives in the Himalayan nation, but are faced with a daunting task as relief efforts have been severely hampered due to weather conditions and fresh tremors.
"Around 80-90 per cent of peripheral healthcare centres have been damaged. Of the 35 affected districts, 12 are very critically affected. Hospitals in Nuwakot, Rasuwa and Ramechhap have been completely destroyed.

"So, we have set up medical camps in several such districts," said P V Chand, chief of policy planning and international coordination committee of the Ministry of Health and Population told PTI.
Incidentally, a sudden multiplication of fracture cases have also led to shortage of plasters and implants.
Health experts fear outbreak of diseases like diarrhoea, acute respiratory infection, eye and skin and health issues, adding to the woes of survivors, who are homeless and are struggling with scarcity of food and water supplies.