The two foreign travelers who were seriously injured when their SUV overturned by Hellissandur in West Iceland yesterday morning are being kept unconscious on a ventilator. Their condition remains serious.
There were six persons in the vehicle and paramedics had to use cutters to retrieve some of them from the car. Three individuals were taken by helicopter to national university hospital Landspítali in Reykjavík and the other three to the healthcare center in Hellissandur.
According to Fréttablaðið’s sources, the healthcare workers who treated the patients were dissatisfied with the condition of the hospital’s equipment. The CAT scan froze which delayed their operation. However, the failure is said not to have affected their condition.
Director of Landspítali Páll Matthíasson was called out. “The CAT scan is brand-new; it’s not on the list of obsolete equipment,” he stated. The poor condition of the hospital’s equipment has been in discussion in recent years.
“The hospital has two CAT scans, one [in the hospital building] on Hringbraut and another in Fossvogur,” Páll explained. Landspítali is in two locations but that will change once plans for a new hospital will be realized.
The hospital’s leadership has planned investing in a new CAT scan, which costs ISK 250 million (USD 1.9 million, EUR 1.7 million), and is hoping it can happen next year.
“In the meantime, we just have one CAT scan [in each location] and as the other is on the other side of Öskjuhlíð, serious incidents can come up,” Páll concluded.
