International Road Federation (IRF), the Geneva-based global road safety body working for better and safer roads worldwide along with the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoH&FW), World Health Organisation (WHO) and FICCI, is organising a daylong seminar on ‘Trauma Care - A National Mission’ on January 15, 2020 at FICCI, Federation House, New Delhi. It is part of the ongoing 31st National Road Safety Week in the country (January 11-17, 2020).

“A daylong conference is being organised to provide a platform for discussion to road safety and trauma care experts to discuss trauma care initiatives in India to save lives of road accident victims and furthering role of corporates, NGOs and start-ups for furthering trauma care in the country,” said K K Kapila, co-chair, FICCI Infra committee and president emeritus, International Road Federation (IRF),

Some of the eminent experts attending the conference will include Dr Rajiv Garg, DG (HS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, government of India; I K Pandey, DG (RD) & Special Secretary, MoRTH, government of India; Dr. (Prof.) Amit Gupta, Professor of Surgery, AIIMS-JPN Trauma Centre; Dr Maneesh Singhal, Professor & HOD, Dept. of Burns, Plastic &  Mailofacial Surgery, AIIMS; Dr Rajendra Prasad, Head - Neurosurgery, Apollo Hospital; Rahul Bharti, Sr. VP, Corp. Comm, Maruti Suzuki India; and Dr. Arpit Jain, DCP, Faridabad. A film on trauma care will also be released during the meet.

Road accidents in India claimed 415 lives, injured 1,286 people each day in 2018

 “In India annually, about 150,000 people are killed in road crashes in the country and more than 480 lakh people get injured. India accounts for more than 11 percent of the global road accident fatalities. India is also a signatory to the United Nation’s Decade of Action for Road Safety which aims to reduce road fatalities by 50% by the year 2020. The increase in road accidents comes amid growing concerns that significant proportions of victims of road accidents in the country do not receive timely and appropriate medical care and do not even have ambulances for transport to hospitals,“ said Kapila.

"Given the shortages of ambulances, trained staff, infrastructure, systems and processes for providing emergency response services within the golden hour, the provision of first aid and trauma care to accident victims is often unduly delayed. The results of these delays reflect in higher traffic accident fatality rates, especially in low-income countries. These fatality rates can be reduced if appropriate and prompt first aid and trauma care is provided at the accident site itself" said Mr Kapila,

 “There is a strong need for strengthening Trauma-care system on the highways and at hospitals to ensure early rehabilitation of road accident victims. It is important to create an enhanced capacity and infuse the knowledge of road safety related actions in public bystanders, road side facilities such as dhabas and amongst commercial truck drivers, who are most often the first on the accident sites and are first responders," said Kapila.

"Given the shortages of ambulances, trained staff, infrastructure, systems and processes for providing emergency response services within the golden hour, the provision of first aid and trauma care to accident victims is often unduly delayed. The results of these delays reflect in higher traffic accident fatality rates, especially in low-income countries. These fatality rates can be reduced if appropriate and prompt first aid and trauma care is provided at the accident site itself," said Kapila.

“The experts at the seminar will also focus on importance to create an enhanced capacity and infuse the knowledge of road safety related actions in public bystanders, roadside facilities such as dhabas and amongst commercial truck drivers, who are most often the first on the accident sites and are first responders," he added.

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