Emergency medical team to help trapped victims
Doctors and nurses group will be able to amputate limbs on the spot to free people
The Hospital Authority has set up a special emergency rescue team to help accident and natural disaster victims who are trapped in wreckage.
The team will operate out of Tuen Mun Hospital and will be sent to any accident scene where an on-site amputation is necessary to free someone.
Dr Chow Yuk-yin, head of the orthopaedics and traumatology department for New Territories West, said the team had been set up to cope with natural disasters such as landslides or accidents such as building collapses. Chow said although firefighters had state-of-the-art rescue equipment, it was difficult to free people trapped under concrete.
"We'll go to any accidents anywhere in the city," Chow said, adding that this kind of emergency rescue was rarely needed in Hong Kong and the team was the first of its kind here.
The team will have one doctor, one nurse and one paramedic from the accident and emergency department and one doctor and one nurse from the orthopaedics and traumatology section, who will bring the equipment and drugs necessary to perform an on-site amputation.
The accident and emergency doctor would sedate the patient, and the other doctor would carry out the operation.