Proposing numerous measures to aid the long-term emergency health interventions (EHIs) for the victims of the July 13 serial bomb blasts, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has suggested ways to rectify overall procedural gaps.

TISS recently submitted a report to Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan after carrying out a rapid pilot study by visiting and interacting with hospital administrators and social workers in the four hospitals where the victims of serial bomb blasts are treated.

According to the TISS associate professor Jacquelin Joseph, the previous experience of attending to the survivors of mass emergencies, especially in the aftermath of the 26/11 terror attacks and the July 13 blasts, has enabled the prestigious institution to understand the trajectory of recovery and the major impediments in the recovery process.

The lacunae were typically observed in documentation, long-term medical needs and ongoing assessment of the victims, burden of out-of-pocket expenses for survivors and their kin, media attention on the VVIPs visiting hospital premises and focus on the physical medical problems while ignoring possible need for psychosocial support, he said.

TISS has suggested steps like collation of basic details of the injured and deceased (including the out patient cases), initiation of a rapid assessment to capture the immediate concerns of the injured and families of the deceased.

It also proposed communicating the government schemes and the access to the survivors and families of the deceased, besides comprehensive psychosocial assessments to ensure holistic health interventions at different phases that could foster recovery.