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Delivering emergency care at the religious mass gathering of India: an amalgamation of technology and spirituality - an institutional experience of managing pilgrims at Mahakumbh Prayagraj[1]

Singh S, Shaloo K, Sinha S, Kumar P, Nath B · 2025 · Front Public Health

Summary

Retrospective mixed-methods report from the AIIMS Raebareli sub-center hospital at Mahakumbh Mela 2025, Prayagraj — an event hosting over 660 MILLION pilgrims — covering 57,950 outpatient and 1,190 inpatient records (8 Jan - 24 Feb 2025) plus thematic analysis of staff field journals. OPD case mix: fever 30.6%, respiratory 23.8%, gastrointestinal 22.0%. IPD admissions led by shortness of breath (37.6%); 3.2% were acute myocardial infarctions. Challenges: crowd density, dust exposure, access constraints. Over 1,000 personnel received emergency-protocol and BLS training. Concludes preparedness, skilled manpower, diagnostics, and technology-enabled coordination made care delivery effective.

So what

The single largest-denominator event report in the modern literature — 660 million pilgrim journeys — and a rare inside view of a field HOSPITAL (not a first-aid post) at that scale: an infectious-disease-dominant outpatient stream (fever/respiratory/GI ~76%) with a genuinely acute inpatient tail (MIs, seizures). The 1,000-personnel just-in-time training operation is the workforce lesson: at mega-pilgrimage scale, the medical plan is substantially a TRAINING plan. Anchors the Kumbh cluster alongside tiwari-2026-kumbh-rta.

Key findings

  • Mahakumbh 2025: >660M pilgrims; 57,950 OPD + 1,190 IPD records at one sub-center hospital
  • OPD infectious-dominant: fever 30.6%, respiratory 23.8%, GI 22.0%
  • IPD acute tail: SOB 37.6%, 3.2% acute MIs, seizures 1.6%
  • 1,000+ personnel trained in emergency protocols and BLS for the event
  • Mixed-methods design adds operational-challenge themes: density, dust, access; free PMC

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