FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022^TM stadium patient evacuation: A system testing simulation-based exercise

As the State of Qatar is soon to host the Federation International of Football Associations (FIFA) 2022 World Cup tournament, the health sector has also been preparing for the event to increase its capacity to meet the expected additional health demand. The readiness of the health sector is being tested and improved through a number of simulation-based exercises. In this case, it relates to testing in a realistic manner the complete evacuation process of a patient using two very different modes of transportation, from a distant FIFA stadium up to the handover phase in the main trauma center in the State of Qatar.

In this controlled simulation-based pilot study, the total evacuation time of a patient from the 60,000-fan capacity Al Bayt Stadium (ABS), situated in a rural northern part of Qatar, to Hamad General Hospital (HGH) Trauma Resuscitation Unit (TRU) situated approximately 50 km away, was compared when transported by helicopter and by ambulance. The Scenario for the simulation was based on a player who sustained a fractured lower leg and a concussion during a football match and needed urgent evacuation from the ABS Players' Medical Clinic near Al Khor to HGH in Doha. The same Scenario was enacted twice, the first time with a ground Hamad Medical Corporation Ambulance Service (HMCAS) ambulance and the second time with an HMCAS LifeFlight helicopter.

The transportation phase for Scenario 2 (LifeFlight helicopter) was 63% faster than for Scenario 1 (ground ambulance). However, upon arrival at HGH, the patient arrived sooner at the TRU in Scenario 1 compared with Scenario 2. The overall mission time was thus only 6 minutes and 22 seconds faster by LifeFlight helicopter as compared with the ground ambulance.

According to this simulation-based pilot study, using a helicopter to transport patients 50 km from the ABS 2022 FIFA World Cup stadium to the HGH TRU was only marginally faster by helicopter than using a ground-based ambulance. In addition, the ambulance was not using emergency driving operations, which when used would have further reduced the time taken for the ambulance to reach HGH TRU. Therefore, having a helicopter on standby there would not significantly improve the transport time of a critically ill/injured patient's access to definitive care and will not be available during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022^TM unless it is called upon to respond to a mass casualty incident or bring additional Critical Care Paramedic resources to the stadium.