Kabul Surgical Hospital Receives 35 Patients Following Explosion in Dasht-e-Barchi
On Monday 17th August, EMERGENCY’s Kabul Surgical Centre admitted 35 patients following an incident involving an explosion at a school in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighbourhood. The Mass Casualty Protocol was activated.
The patients were all young children between the age of 10 and 14, and they were reportedly leaving the school when the explosion happened.
“At around 6pm on Monday, we were alerted by Kabul ambulances that an incident had occurred and that a large number of patients would be transferred to our facilities,” says Dejan Panic, EMERGENCY’s Country Director in Afghanistan. “We later learned that it was an explosion, and all the patients were suffering from shrapnel injuries, with at least three of them requiring surgical care. It is important to note that, even though there has been a significant decrease in mass casualty incidents since 2021, the fact that they still happen shows that EMERGENCY’s expertise in war surgery and trauma surgery is as needed as ever.”
EMERGENCY has been present in Afghanistan since 1999 with two Surgical Centres in Kabul and Lashkar-Gah, a Surgical & Paediatric Centre and a Maternity Centre in Anabah (Panjshir Valley), as well as a network of more than 30 First Aid Posts and Primary Healthcare Centres.