Years of disaster drills kept Israeli hospitals running - until Oct. 7 exposed the gaps
The findings of an Israeli study offer practical lessons that could help hospitals worldwide prepare for prolonged armed conflicts and other large-scale emergencies.
In October 2023, the Samson Assuta Ashdod University Medical Center in southern Israel faced an unprecedented wartime emergency when rockets struck the hospital during the Hamas attacks. Despite years of disaster drills, the hospital staff managed to continue treating patients under rocket fire, but critical gaps emerged in communication, logistics, staffing, and casualty distribution.
Led by a doctoral candidate from Linköping University, the study published in Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the hospital's response to the real-life situation. Preparedness through regular drills proved crucial, but communication breakdowns, logistical challenges, and limited information availability exposed significant gaps.
The researchers recommend more centralized control over casualty distribution, missile-proof areas for less critical patients, and improved information-sharing mechanisms among hospitals, ambulance services, the military, and government agencies.
Written by urgent.news from Jerusalem Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
