Dharwad: When the multi-storey building collapsed in Dharwad on Tuesday evening, private doctors along with government doctors rushed to the spot to save lives. They had all responded to the call given by district health officer Dr R M Doddamani who sensed the gravity of the tragedy and alerted all doctors on social media platforms to assist authorities in the time of crisis.When his message reached doctors, many of them cancelled all their appointments and rushed to the spot in ambulances, support staff and necessary life-saving medical equipment.The private doctors joined their government colleagues shoulder to shoulder and spent the entire night at the spot treating survivors.Dr Satish Irkal, an orthopaedic surgeon at Shreeya Hospital told TOI that he was at the spot the entire night. He added that he helped the rescue team save at least six persons. He said he saved a young boy whose leg was stuck under debris.“The rescue team announced that they needed help from a doctor to safely remove his leg from the debris and his leg was bleeding. I went to the spot and as soon as the team removed him and stopped the bleeding in his leg. If he had more bleeding he could not have survived,” Dr Irkal said.Dr Mohammad Iqbal Shaikh, a cardiologist from German Hospital said his senior colleague Dr Vijay Fernandes had put a lot of effort as soon as he heard about the tragedy. He and his team of doctors including Dr Sharad Shettar, Dr Sahadev, Dr Salauddin Contractor, Dr Shivkumar Turmuri went to the spot and assisted the rescue team, he said.Timely help“Dr Vijay Fernandes and his team identified a lady buried in a heap of concrete material and informed the rescue team. We then went to the lady after clearing all the hurdles but she was buried in such a way that it was a difficult task for the team to extricate her. We tried to give her intravenous fluid but the rescue team did not allow it. Doctors motivated her not to lose hope and told her she would survive. She was eventually rescued on Wednesday morning,” said Dr Shaikh.“We were constantly giving tips to those who were trapped under the debris and also stayed at the spot the entire night,” he added. Dr Shivakumar Kumbar, Dr Vani and others were also part of the rescue operation.

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