Off-duty NTUH doctor recounts aiding Taipei stabbing spree victims

Taipei, Dec. 21 (CNA) An off-duty National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) physician on Sunday recalled taking life-saving action to triage and treat those wounded in a stabbing spree in downtown Taipei on Friday, for which he was commended by Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安).

"Saving lives is a doctor's calling," said Yen Zui-shen (顏瑞昇), an attending physician in NTUH's Department of Emergency Medicine. "Faced with a mass-casualty situation like that, any emergency physician would step forward and do their best."

Speaking to reporters outside NTUH after a commendation event hosted by Chiang, Yen said he "didn't think much about the potential danger at the time."

On Friday, Yen and his daughter, an NTUH internal medicine physician also commended by Chiang, were set to have dinner at 7 p.m. at a restaurant across from the Eslite Spectrum Nanxi department store in Taipei's Zhongshan District.

Their plans were disrupted after 27-year-old Chang Wen (張文) began stabbing people at random on the road outside the store at 6:37 p.m. before entering the building and injuring more people.

As of 3:20 p.m. Sunday, the stabbings and a separate attack at MRT Taipei Main Station had left four people dead, including Chang, and 11 injured.

Recalling the unexpected scene before their scheduled dinner, Yen said that when arriving at the restaurant at 6:55 p.m., he and his daughter were surprised to see so many ambulances across the street.

"My daughter and I had a brief discussion," Yen said. "We're doctors, and I'm an emergency physician, so I felt I should go to the scene and provide appropriate assistance."

The pair went to a first-aid station that had been set up nearby, where Yen introduced himself to the on-site commander as an emergency physician and offered to help.

"The commander then began asking me to assess and treat injured people as paramedics brought them out of the department store," Yen said, adding that he advised responders on the most appropriate follow-up steps for each case and which hospitals the patients should be sent to.

Yen recalled that when he first arrived at the scene, some injured people were unsure whether their condition was stable, "so I assessed them and provided treatment one by one."

"My daughter and I were simply doing what we could as doctors, using a small part of our professional training to offer some help on site," Yen said.