Praise for roadside surgeon and rescuers
KZN Health MEC praised the work of medical teams, fire fighters and rescue workers who managed to free a man who was impaled and entrapped in his mangled car after colliding with a lightpole on Umgeni Road over the weekend.
A MAN, who was trapped in his car, after he lost control and collided with an light police on Umgeni Road on Saturday, had to be airlifted to Nkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital for further treatment after he was entrapped in the mangled wreck for three hours whilst paramedics, fire fighters and a trauma doctor worked to free him.
Garrith Jamieson, operations director at Rescue Care said the collision occurred on Umgeni Road near North Coast Road around 11am on Saturday.
“Paramedics arrived on the scene to find carnage. Three passengers of the same vehicle had been ejected after the initial impact and were found on the side of the roadway. The driver was severely entrapped and paramedics worked tirelessly to try and stabilize him. Due to the severity of his injuries and the complex entrapment, a trauma doctor was called in to assist the paramedics on scene,” said Jamieson.
KZN Health MEC, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, has heaped praise on the medical team of KZN Emergency Medical Services, private ambulances services and Metro fire fighters who performed a complicated operation to rescue the man. “The paramedics decided to summon the Department of Health’s Air Ambulance after realizing that a metal part of the car had penetrated – and was lodged in – the man’s abdomen. The trauma surgeon, Dr Mike Faurie, successfully performed an emergency surgery on the man’s abdomen which made it possible for the rescuers to continue extricating the man from the badly crushed car. The surgeon then flew with the flight crews airlifting the patient to Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, where a fully prepared trauma team was waiting to receive them,” he said.
“This could not have been possible if it were not for the team effort of our health practitioners as well as the high level of competence by our surgeon from Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital. Thanks to them; the man is alive and recuperating well in hospital,” added Dr Dhlomo.
