Mumbai, July 22 -- That fateful Tuesday evening in 2006, Dr Aparna Deshpande, the then associate professor and head of the emergency unit at KEM Hospital, was heading home when she was called back, along with all the other doctors. Seven coordinated blasts in suburban trains had left a trail of dead and wounded, and a city reeling from tragedy. Within an hour, the KEM hospital, closest to two of the stations where the blasts had occurred, saw its halls filled with the injured. Doctors recall the horror of dismembered bodies, severe lung damage, massive blood loss due to shrapnel piercing bodies, and severe spinal injuries leading to 18 surgeries. The tragedy claimed 188 lives, left 828 injured, and many more grieving. Deshpande, along with all the resident doctors, as well as professors qualified to be on call, were deployed to tend to the wounded. Surgeons and orthopedics began by diagnosing the wounded and separating the blast victims into groups based on the severity of their injuries. Of the 76 victims that came to the hospital, 31 were admitted into the casualty ward and treated for severe and critical injuries, and 45 were kept for observation in another ward and discharged when they were in a more stable condition. Meanwhile, doctors said that they had managed to handle the situation thanks to a disaster management plan that was set in place earlier that year, with mock drills equipping them to manage such severe situations. However, despite the disaster management plan, the casualty ward grew congested with the injured, the thousands of well-wishers pouring in to volunteer at the hospital and to donate blood to victims, and the grieving relatives of victims who waited for news about their loved ones. "The worst for us was to inform the relatives who came in looking for their kin, and sometimes even direct them to the mortuary," said Deshpande, who is currently professor of surgery at KEM. Along with the blood and the gore, the blasts also left many doctors traumatised by the incident. Dr Sanjay Mehta, who was then the coordinator of emergency medicine services, recalls that the blast victims were different from the kind patients the doctors saw in the emergency wing on a regular basis. "Their arteries were ruptured and we were left questioning why such events even happen," said Mehta. Further south in the city, the JJ hospital too braced for the worst. Dr Pravin Shingare, the dean at the time, recalled how the JJ Marg police station had warned them that victims could start arriving at any moment. "We didn't know how many or how critical, but we prepared for the worst," said Dr Shingare. Yet, when the dust settled, JJ had received fewer than 15 victims. "Most victims went to KEM and Sion hospitals, much closer to the blast sites in the suburbs," Dr Shingare explained....