Bali: Bags of shrapnel removed
2005-10-04 13:47
Sydney - Shrapnel fragments taken from victims of the Bali bombings evacuated to the Royal Darwin Hospital filled dozens of bags, an Australian doctor involved in treating the wounded said on Tuesday.
Ball bearings, broken nails and pieces of glass and metal have been removed from those brought to the hospital in northern Australia, general manager Dr Len Notaras said.
"Suffice to say that several dozen ... paper bags have been filled up," Notaras told ABC radio.
A spokesperson for the hospital said that doctors would use a new bag for every surgery, adding that some patients had undergone more than one operation.
"What we are seeing is patients with multiple shrapnel wounds on every part of their body," she told AFP.
The shrapnel will be handed over to police investigating Saturday night's suicide bombings of crowded tourist areas on Indonesia's Bali island.
The hospital, which also took victims from the Bali bombings of almost three years ago, treated more than 20 victims of the latest blast.
Twelve are still at the hospital, including two Australians, an Indonesian and two Japanese who are all critically wounded.
In some cases surgeons will leave the shrapnel where it is embedded in the body but these patients risk complications if the object interferes with organs or causes infection.
Surgeon David Read said treating the wounded was like "war surgery".
"The bombs have different ideas behind how they want to work. Some are intended to cause a large blast and fires, and this one looks, to me, like it was intended to cause fragmentation and shrapnel injuries," he told reporters.
"The injuries are consistent with a fragmentation device, which means ... a lot of small penetrating injuries virtually to every part of the body. I don't think there's a part of the body where we've not seen a fragmentation injury to."
Doctors were working to clean wounds, remove some of the shrapnel and stabilise the patients, he said.
"This is war surgery, you do not want lengthy surgery," he said.
"It's not dissimilar to the concept you may be familiar with, in (TV show) M.A.S.H. where you just do the basic that you have to and get them out."
- AFP