Jillian Edgar from Royal Darwin Hospital remembers Bali bombings on the 20th anniversary

Twenty years ago, terrorists killed 202 people in a coordinated set of explosions in Bali. Darwin’s hospital played a key role in providing medical care for bombing survivors. We revisit that day.

The medical records section of the Royal Darwin Hospital hasn’t seen anything like the chaos of October 12, 2002.

In the tourist mecca of Kuta, terrorists set off three bombs. They killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Some 209 people were injured and Australian medical staff were integral in treating them and saving lives.

The 13 or so RDH staff who worked during the aftermath of the Bali bombings some 20 years ago had to scramble to take down as much information as they could when 61 unidentified patients were flown in for recovery.

Current manager of the records department, Jillian Edgar, recalls the first eight hours of the disaster being the most hectic, when everyone at RDH was anticipating what was to come.

“We made sure we were organised, we had everything under control and trying to still be sympathetic and be compassionate with people’s privacy,” she said.

Royal Darwin and Palmerston Regional Hospital medical record manager Jillian Edgar was working in the same department when the victims of the Bali bombings came through in 2002. Picture: Floss Adams

Hundreds of Territorians were affected in the immediate aftermath, with outpatients appointments cancelled to make way for the onslaught of burns patients.

“We had to cancel all them because we didn’t know how many we would receive at the time,” she said.

Ms Edgar said their main role was to record what they could about the people coming in, which proved quite difficult with very little information available.

“They used to have unknown female or unknown male with a number and then later on we’d get to find out their names and then we’d transfer it over on to the computer system plus on their medical record as well,” she said.

“They have to have a hospital record number otherwise they can’t take blood, they can’t do x-rays, they can’t do anything.”

It was all hands on deck when the Bali bombings victim were brought to Royal Darwin Hospital. Picture: AAP Image/Royal Darwin Hospital

Despite the clearly huge responsibility the records team held, Ms Edgar is humble about the part she played in the efforts at the hospital.

“We didn’t do a big role, but we were there just to support them just in case they needed anything, and it was not just the doctors or nurses, it was like the housekeeping if they needed anything, because we were sort of spare people in that time because we couldn’t actually do our role,” she said.

“We were there to support the whole team to make sure their life was going to be easier as much as we could possibly.”

One particular instance of strength replays on Ms Edgar’s mind when she thinks about that October day 20 years ago.

“I saw one of the guys that was injured and I had to go up to ICU and he was just the worst I’ve ever seen,” she said.

“He just really bloated and really awful and really injured but he didn’t really seem like he was upset — he knew people were helping him.”

She said this strength was transferred on to the staff as they worked to do everything they could.

“I knew that we all had to be strong and be able to cope with this.

“And I think the emotions didn’t come out until after everybody had gone.

The team have held on to all the medical records as per procedure, but kept them separately for easy access for the victims.

“We knew that they would probably people may ask for their history and stuff like that,” she said.

“We have had a couple of the victims ask for their information and we’ve supplied that to them.

“A lot of them would not have known what happened to them, what procedures people did to them, and even just knowing what doctors may have cared for them and looked after them at that period of time just for their own history.”

Originally published as Jillian Edgar from Royal Darwin Hospital remembers Bali bombings on the 20th anniversary