Aus, NZ 'can't cope with attack'
2007-04-16 08:49
Sydney - Australian and New Zealand hospitals could not handle mass casualties from a terrorist attack or natural disaster, with 80% of critical
patients unable to receive immediate life-saving surgery, says
a report.
The report in The Medical Journal of Australia published on
Monday found that Australian hospitals were already operating
at near full capacity and would be overwhelmed by patients in
the event of a terrorist attack or disaster.
"In a major disaster, the proportion of critically injured
patients at risk of being denied immediate access to operating
theatres ranged from 59% to 81% in Australia and
from 70% to 87% in NZ," said the report.
"The proportion of critically injured patients estimated to
be denied immediate access to ICU (intensive care unit) beds
ranged from 31% to 69% in Australia and from 51% to 78% in NZ."
Australian and New Zealand hospitals did not meet US
benchmarks, set after September 11 2001, for handling mass
casualties, said the report, which studied 101 hospitals in the
two countries.
Hospital surge capacity
"Hospital surge capacity is defined as the ability to
provide acute care to both critical and non-critical mass
casualties simultaneously and is a marker of the ability to
deliver emergency care in a disaster," it said.
"At present, there are no established standards of
appropriate physical or human preparedness targets for
Australasian hospitals."
Australia has never had a mass casualty event.
In the event of a disaster up to 80% of acutely injured patients would arrive at the closest medical facilities within 90 minutes after the event, said the report.
Australia's hospital system struggled to cope with 66 patients from the 2002 Bali bombing who arrived over a 21-hour period, it said.
Australia's biggest city Sydney is best placed to handle
mass casualties, but even its hospitals would be swamped by
patients, said one of the report's authors Dr Tony Joseph.
"If Sydney had a mass casualty involving 300 patients about
30% of those patients, or about 100, would not have
immediate access to operating rooms because operating theatres
would be overwhelmed," Joseph told reporters.