ISN protocols vital to save kidney disease patients after Iran earthquake
Following an earthquake in the Kermanshah province of Iran on November 12, 2017, the Iranian Society of Nephrology was in close contact with two local nephrologists from the trauma unit in Kermanshah – sending protocols for managing patients with crush injuries and applying fluid therapy.
“There are no reported cases of acute hemodialysis until now,” says Shahrzad Ossareh, ISN council member and Head of the Hemodialysis Ward at Hasheminejad Kidney Center.
“This is owing to the excellent team work of our nephrologists as well as emergency and trauma doctors. We thank ISN, especially David Harris and Wim Van Biesen, for their close contact and care from the first days after the earthquake.”
Setting a live chat group was vital for communications and to accurately implement the protocols, collect data, respond to medical needs and even raise targeted funds for kidney disease patients within the affected population.
These protocols were established based on the experiences of members of the Iranian Socierty of Nephrology and the ISN Renal Disaster Relief Task Force following earthquakes that devastated the country in 1990 and 2003.
According to Ossareh, there were just over one hundred crash injuries and 12 acute kidney injuries. The only hospital in Sarpol-e Zahab was completely destroyed.The hospital in Eslamabad-e Gharb was seriously damaged. Most patients were transferred to Imam Reza and other hospitals in Kermanshah. 391 patients were transferred to the capital Tehran, Hamedan and Karaj.
The earthquake occurred close to the Iran-Iraq border, with a magnitude of 7.3 on the Richter scale. It affected the city of Ezgeleh in the Kermanshah province of Iran as well as parts of Iraq. Death tolls reports are estimated between 483 and 580, with more than 14,000 people injured.
The ISN Renal Disaster Relief Task Force (RDRTF) provides essential medical care to people in the wake of natural disasters. The Task Force consists of a worldwide network of experts in the management of patients with acute renal failure. Read more HERE.
