CAIRO—Ashraf Hatem, the director of the country's largest hospital here, had thought early Thursday morning that another chaotic day had finally come to an end. That night's violence yielded the hospital another 160 patients, mostly people who were struck by rocks.
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In recent days of mounting violence in Cairo, the Kasr Elaini Hospital has been turned into a full-time emergency ward. WSJ's Christopher Rhoads reports.
Then, at about 4 a.m., he and his exhausted staff, many of whom have been living at the hospital for days, were startled by what came through the door: nine protesters clinging to life with what he called "sniper wounds."
Five died, he said, and later Thursday the remaining four remained in critical condition.
"These were done by professionals," said Dr. Hatem, who runs Cairo University's Kasr Elaini hospital. "Who did it? I think all of Egypt would like to know," he added.
Dr. Hatem said doctors could tell the nine protesters were hit by sniper fire by the clean entry of the bullet, the type of bullet, low amount of blood and angle of entry, among other things.
Across the embattled city during the past 24 hours, at least eight people had died and another 900 were injured, according to hospital officials and estimates on state television.
Medical personnel braced for a new round of massive, and likely violent, protests on Friday. The government official in charge of the country's hospitals toured some of the hospitals Thursday to monitor conditions, said one hospital official.
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Cairo's New Kasr El Aini Teaching Hospital, where an injured man was treated this week, is under increasing strain from a bigger influx of patients hurt in street protests.
Little was normal Thursday morning at the prestigious Kasr Elaini hospital, which was founded in 1827. Relatives and friends of the injured clogged a long hallway leading to the trauma and operating wings. Parts of the staff—which includes 3,000 doctors and 10,000 nurses, administrators and technicians—were adjusting to just-instituted 24-hour shifts. The hospital, home to one of the most respected medical schools in the Middle East, was accepting only emergency patients, postponing any elective surgeries.
To cope with the crisis, Dr. Hatem at Kasr Elaini hospital had doubled operating theatres to 14, tripled intensive-care beds to 300 and tripled to 600 the number of beds in the emergency ward.
Inside one crowded wing, Ashraf Mosilhy, a 46-year-old factory manager, wore bandages over one eye and a bloody Izod shirt. He sat upright in his bed, gesticulating wildly to a huddle of friends, relatives and nurses.
"I don't hate Mubarak," he said, referring to the country's embattled president, Hosni Mubarak. "I hate politics!"
He told the group how in the afternoon he was hit in the face with a rock. Then, around 4 a.m. Thursday, he said, he and others on a street close to Tahrir Square were preparing to pray. Suddenly, a fusillade of shots rang out, hitting several standing on a bridge overhead, he said.
Mr. Mosilhy, who said he didn't see the origin of the shots, felt a hot pain in his left hip, and then saw the blood. His friends dragged him to a nearby ambulance, which took him to Kasr Elaini hospital, he said. He held up his bloody trousers to show the bullet hole.
"I was just trying to help," he said. He estimated several dozen were shot during the altercation.
In a part of the expanded intensive-care unit, two patients on ventilators had suffered multiple gunshot wounds. Another, also on a ventilator, had been operated on twice in recent hours, after taking a gunshot in the chest.
"He will be very lucky if he makes it," said Dr. George Loza, standing nearby.
In the emergency ward, Mahmoud Hosni, a 42-year-old technician, had small flesh wounds across the side of his face, from shotgun pellets, and a big bruise on his stomach from a thrown rock.
He said he was fighting with plainclothes police when he was shot, though he added that he didn't know where the shots came from.
A few beds away, Belal Kotb, 36, stood over his brother and partner in a real-estate business, 51-year-old Mohamed, who had been shot once in the stomach.
"The square was mostly empty when it happened," said Belal Kotb. "He was praying and then someone shot him."
The doctors present said his wound and the others in the emergency ward weren't among those hit by sniper fire.
"A shot close up by someone else on the street is much more diffuse, much bloodier," said Dr. Hatem. He and other doctors in the hospital said they thought the sniper shots came from high stories of buildings near the square, of which there are many, given the angle of entry. "We don't know what will happen next," said Dr. Hatem.
Write to Christopher Rhoads at christopher.rhoads@wsj.com
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