Balearic hospitals ready for terrorist attack

By Humphrey Carter THE Balearics is capable of responding to a terrorist attack on the scale of the Madrid bombings. On the opening day of the first “catastrophe” summit in Palma, the head of the intensive care unit at the Gregorio Marañón hospital in Madrid, told delegates that while Balearic hospitals are “perfectly prepared” to respond to a major terrorist attack or catastrophe, “never enough preparation” can be made for catastrophes of this kind. The emergency and medical authorities need to make sure that, in the event of a major incident, the maximum use can be made of all available resources and that all emergency response plans are properly managed. Over the past few years since the Madrid bombing and the fire which destroyed one of Spain's tallest buildings in Madrid, all local authorities have been obliged to re-assess their emergency response plans. Balearic health service boss Luis Alegre said that Ib-Salud hospitals are well prepared to cope with a major catastrophe. The 061 emergency service chief Dolores Riart admitted that there are never going to be enough resources to deal with a disaster on the scale of the Madrid attack. However, the limited resources have meant that the Balearics' medical and hospital staff have had to learn how to make maximum use of what is available. Spanish, and to a lesser extent European, medical and emergency services have learnt many lessons from the Madrid, and subsequent London, bombings. SAMUR emergency medical service chief Ervigio Corral who was in charge of the initial rescue, evacuation and first aid in Madrid, told delegates that Madrid hospitals were forced to take on five times as many staff to respond to the attack “and that is only possible when everybody is well trained in how to respond to an emergency. “We had to respond to a terrorist attack which involved four targets, something which had never happened in Spain, but all the emergency and security services involved made a huge effort. Today, from the lessons learnt, we are now capable of responding to an attack involving as many as five simultaneous terrorist targets.” That said, he would not reveal to what level of attack Balearic hospitals have been prepared and a number of speakers yesterday said that emergency services need more training as too much of the preparation is theoretical.