A marathon medical effort to keep pace with the runners

At 2.30 am on Sunday, a 500-plus team, including 200 medical staff, will fan out from Mumbai’s Asian Heart Institute to different parts of the city to set up medical stations along different locations of the Tata Mumbai Marathon.

“This is the 16th year of the marathon and we have been providing medical support from its first year in 2004,” says Dr Vijay D’Silva, Medical Director, Tata Mumbai Marathon, as participation more than doubles from 20,000 to over 45,000 runners.

“It’s like re-creating a hospital in a 21-km area (aid stations on both sides make the entire 42 km). It can be a nightmare for anyone,” says D’Silva, who is also Asian Heart’s Director - Critical Care and Medical Affairs. The team is excited, almost “battle ready” as preparations for D-day have been on for a couple of months.

Checklists have been made and dry runs done with team leaders before man and machinery are finally dropped off in the wee hours tomorrow.

“Most injuries happen close to the finish line,” says D’Silva, though the team is prepared for eventualities along the entire route.

Asian Heart Institute is ‘battle ready’ for the Mumbai Marathon (supplied pic)

Ready for action

There are three finish lines and the base-camps that operate almost like intensive care units (ICU) are located, accordingly, to provide high-end care. Base camp 1 has 40 beds and base camp 2 has 20 beds. There are 11 aid stations with medical staff, physiotherapists and emergency ambulances on call.

Eight mobile units are also on the move with a biker and medical staff equipped with a defibrillator to give electric shocks in case of a cardiac arrest, he explains. The end stretch has doctors, nurses, people with stretchers, etc, all briefed on what they have to do.

The number of injuries has come down over the years, observes D’Silva, though participants have increased. “In the first year, there were about 7,000 injuries that we attended to as participants were not trained or qualified. But over the years, injuries have come down to between 2,500 and 4,000, as people have begun to understand the requirements of marathon running. The organisers too have added qualifiers so only those who have run earlier are able to participate,” he says, explaining the reduction in injuries.

‘Medical teams in the past have stabilised runners who had collapsed and had a heart attack, cardiac arrest or both, he says.

In fact, Asian Heart’s own contingent of heart patients who run the marathon has increased from 30 to about 90 and “in 15 years, not one of them has come for medical aid during the run,” he adds with pride . But the times they are a changing, and even sporting events these days face terror threats, as witnessed with the Boston marathon. D’Silva agrees they have to be prepared for that “unforeseen” danger, but adds that security these days has been beefed up with demarcated areas, photo identity cards, etc. So all that’s left for the marathoners to do is put on their running shoes and hit the picturesque route alongside the deep blue sea.

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