TITLE:
CSMIA Mock Drill and Juhu Aerodrome Emergency Exercise, Mumbai 2023: A Case Study
AUTHORS:
Renaldo Pavrey
KEYWORDS:
Disaster Medicine, Emergency Preparedness, Emergency Medical Service, Mass Casualty Incident, Disaster Planning
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Emergency Medicine,
Vol.13 No.1,
March
4,
2025
ABSTRACT: Background: As a step towards building disaster resilience in the face of mass casualty events, the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) and Airports Authority of India (AAI) conducted two mock exercises in November and December 2023 respectively. The exercises were conducted to check disaster preparedness of different departments and agencies responsible for disaster management, which included the receiving tertiary care hospital of Nanavati Max Super Specialty Hospital (NMSSH), Mumbai. Objective: The aim of our study was to prepare disaster management stakeholders in the Emergency Department (ED) at NMSSH to adequately receive casualties during a mass casualty event occurring at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) and Juhu Aerodrome. Our objectives were: 1) to check preparedness, adequacy and efficacy of the ground-level staff in the ED for response to mass casualty events in the CSMIA and Juhu Aerodrome, and 2) to enhance the skills of ED stakeholders through the practice of coordinated actions. Materials and Methods: The approach used was retrospective, observational and qualitative. Data collection was done via primary sources, i.e., appointed scribes and observers present during the exercises. Results: The participation of all agencies in the entire process was encouraging. Though the workflow processes during the Mock Exercise were well-maintained, with minimal to no access blocks, a few shortcomings were noted. It was noted that other medical departments were not adequately cognizant of the Disaster Management Plan prepared by the ED. A plan for surge capacity in the Emergency Department was found to be suboptimum, with evident gaps noted in the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for unidentified victims. Conclusions: Tabletop exercises and mock drills are an integral part of education and training in dealing with external disaster situations for a hospital. The emergency exercises conducted by the AAI in collaboration with NMSSH were a competent addition to the yearly Code Yellow mock drills conducted by the hospital.