RAWALPINDI, Oct 11: More than 600 earthquake victims with multiple injuries were brought to different hospitals here on Tuesday. The wounded, including women, children, youths and the elderly, were admitted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Military Hospital, Rawalpindi General Hospital (RGH), Holy Family Hospital, District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital, FID and Railways Hospital. Most of the injured were brought from Muzaffarabad, Bagh, Rawlakot, Balakot and Masehra.

They had received bone fractures, multiple wounds and bruises.

Col Zubair at the CMH, who is coordinating medical care and relief operations for the wounded and displaced people, told Dawn that first these injured people were brought to the CMH from where they were sent to different hospitals. He said 10 bodies had also arrived from the quake-hit areas.

Some hospitals like the RGH, Holy Family and the DHQ have been vacated to accommodate the quake victims. Other than the injured people from the disaster-hit areas, they are accommodating only emergency patients.

Of the total, as many as 256 wounded were admitted to the CMH on Tuesday, while more are constantly pouring in, said Col Zubair. He said even those patients who had minor injuries were kept under observation. They are discharged only when their relatives arrive or when they have fully recovered, he said.

Similarly, about 150 wounded were brought to the RGH on Tuesday, bringing the total number of such patients treated in the hospital to 500. Of them, 250 had been admitted, while the remaining were discharged after treatment.

RGH is a 650-bed hospital and can accommodate several hundred more wounded, said the hospital assistant medical superintendent, Dr Khalid Randawa. He said even extra beds would be arranged in different wards and verandas if more patients arrived.

Holy Family received about 40 new patients on Tuesday. About 450 quake victims have been treated at this hospital so far. As many as 212 had been admitted, while the remaining with minor injuries were discharged. Injured people are constantly coming in, said Dr Ilyas. “Every hour, we receive four to five new patients,” he said. A welfare camp has been set up at the hospital where donations, including food, blood and clothes, are being collected for the displaced people.

The hospital has sufficient medicines, doctors and other assisting staff to look after the wounded, but it is facing shortage of ambulances.

Holy Family has four to five ambulances, but these are not sufficient to take the patients to other hospitals or relief camps, said Dr Ilyas.

The total number of injured brought to the DHQ Hospital on Tuesday was 120.