News of Wales - Issue 1
October 2005
London bombings
The Western Mail headline for Friday July 8 was ‘The Nightmare arrives’ as bombers left a trail of carnage across central London.
One of the bombs exploded on the top deck of a bus outside BMA headquarters in Tavistock Square and the chairman of GPC Wales – Dr Andrew Dearden – was one of the first on the scene – helping to treat the injured.
Two people died in the BMA courtyard as doctors tried to treat them whilst the front of BMA House was spattered with blood.
The injuries of the survivors ranged from serious burns, fractures, shrapnel wounds and other blunt trauma.
Dr Dearden said: “You do what you have been trained to do – casualty doctors have to do this every day as people walk in with horrific injuries. The difference was these all came at one.
“The most noticeable and quite amazing thing was the silence – London is never quiet.
“When we had sent the last person off, we went back to BMA House and stopped for a minute and there was not a sound anywhere – everything had stopped.”
Dr Peter Holden, chairman of the professional fees committee said lives were saved because of the treatment doctors at the BMA were able to administer to casualties.
He said: “Many of these doctors had not used these skills for upwards of 20 years but it is amazing what the human body and mind can do when the skills are remembered.”
The news had a profound effect on staff in the Cardiff office who feared for the lives of their colleagues. Welsh Secretary sent a message to BMA House: “We have both seen and heard the tragic events that have occurred in London today. We are particularly aware of events that have occurred in such close vicinity to BMA House and will undoubtedly have affected you all. It has certainly had a profound affect upon us in Wales and we simply wish to let you know that you are all very much in our thoughts.”
Mr Jit Lodhi - an associate specialist in general surgery at Prince Charles Hospital Methyr Tydfil - was one of the first on the scene. The Chairman of North Glamorgan NHS Trust – Mrs Jill Penn was fulsome in her praise for Mr Lodhi.