Burn MASCAL – a comprehensive case report

Abstract

Introduction: Managing a large number of seriously injured patients (massive casualties – MASCAL) is a situation faced by medical teams in war conflicts and during disasters. MASCAL is an incident with a mass receive of injured patients, where the number of casualties exceeds the capacity and capabilities of the healthcare facility, placing enormous demands on the work of medical teams and effective management of limited human and material resources.

Case report: In this communication, we describe a burn-related MASCAL that occurred in Kabul following a gas cylinder explosion. Within a 72-hour period, a ROLE 3 field hospital at the Kabul base received and treated 71 patients with deep burns covering 5–90% of their body surface area. Despite the exceptional scale of this tragedy, it was managed successfully through a staged system of care delivery and subsequent redistribution of burn patients to other alliance healthcare facilities.

Conclusion: Receiving a mass influx of patients with extensive burns is one of the most medically, organizationally, and logistically challenging situations, placing extreme demands on the healthcare delivery system. MASCAL situations require a rapid and coordinated response with established treatment priorities and a prepared strategy for the efficient distribution of personnel, supplies, and equipment.

doi: 10.48095/ccrvch202635