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Westgate Shootings: An Emergency Department Approach to a Mass-casualty Incident

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 September 2014

Benjamin W. Wachira ,
Ramadhani O. Abdalla  and
Lee A. Wallis
Benjamin W. Wachira*
Affiliation:
Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
Ramadhani O. Abdalla
Affiliation:
Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
Lee A. Wallis
Affiliation:
University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Cape Town, South Africa
*
Correspondence: Benjamin W. Wachira, MBChB Dip PEC (SA), MMed EM, FCEM (SA) Accident and Emergency Department Aga Khan University Hospital – Nairobi P.O. Box 30270 Nairobi 00100 Kenya E-mail benjamin.wachira@aku.edu
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Abstract

At approximately 12:30 pm on Saturday September 21, 2013, armed assailants attacked the upscale Westgate shopping mall in the Westlands area of Nairobi, Kenya. Using the seven key Major Incident Medical Management and Support (MIMMS) principles, command, safety, communication, assessment, triage, treatment, and transport, the Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi (AKUH,N) emergency department (ED) successfully coordinated the reception and care of all the casualties brought to the hospital.

This report describes the AKUH,N ED response to the first civilian mass-casualty shooting incident in Kenya, with the hope of informing the development and implementation of mass-casualty emergency preparedness plans by other EDs and hospitals in Kenya, appropriate for the local health care system.

WachiraBW, AbdallaRO, WallisLA. Westgate Shootings: An Emergency Department Approach to a Mass-casualty Incident. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2014;29(5):1-4.

Keywords

disaster planningemergency preparednessKenyaterrorism
Type
Special Report
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 29 , Issue 5 , October 2014 , pp. 538 - 541
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2014 

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References

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