Latest News

C4TS lead Professor Brohi talks to The Times in wake of Manchester bombings

May 24, 2017

Founder and lead of the Centre for Trauma Sciences, Professor Karim Brohi, was today interviewed by The Times newspaper about blast injuries in the wake of the Manchester terrorist bombings on 22 May.

Professor Brohi explained “People who are close to the blast will have been killed outright. Then there are those who have been injured, either by the blast itself, bits of shrapnel hitting various parts of them, or if they have been thrown across the room into something else or hit by bits of the stadium.”

He also added: “The big issue is a lot of people arriving at the same time, and having to be fixed quickly. Most of (Manchester’s trauma patient receiving) hospitals will be busy with surgery for the next two or three weeks. A lot of patients will be in hospital for three months, perhaps longer.”

Casualties were taken to eight hospitals in Manchester, which had rehearsed a similar scenario only a month earlier. A major incident was declared as the first phone calls came in after the attack at about 10.30pm. Sixty ambulances attended the scene.

Manchester has a major trauma network.  Professor Brohi and the trauma team at the Royal London Hospital played a major role in promoting the establishment of major trauma networks across the UK starting in 2012.  An evaluation supported by the Centre for Trauma sciences showed that major trauma networks save lives by ensuring patients are quickly conveyed to hospitals with multidisciplinary trauma teams best placed to treat their injuries.

Share this page