Dr M K Mam
Bone and Joint day is celebrated all over India by the Indian Orthopaedic Association (IOA) and all its state chapters on 4th of August every year since 2012. The primary aim is to create awareness, educate the people about the importance of maintaining a sound bone health and what all can be done to keep the bones healthy and strong. We have also public awareness programs at state chapters to educate the society about increasing impact of bone and joint disorders, how to prevent and treat them. The activities that are usually organised include health education programmes for general public highlighting bone health- having stronger bones, free consultations, surgeries etc. for deserving patients by the members, distribution of pamphlets and media coverage..
There has been a rise in the incidents of road accidents in our country. A total of 4490002 road accidents were reported in the year. These accidents resulted in over 451000 injuries that claimed the lives of over 150000 victims. This number is much higher than that of many countries. India in fact ranks first in the number of road accident deaths across 199 countries as reported by World traffic statistics. Young adults in the age group 18-45 years were mostly ( around 69.3%) involved in these accidents. Most of these deaths (84.3%) occurred in working age group of 18-60 years. Males outnumbered (86 %) the females in these deaths.
Deaths and injuries resulting from road accidents is a major and growing public health problem. Doctors and paramedics certainly play a vital role in decreasing the morbidity and fatality following road accidents. It has been reported that a third of prehospital deaths may be prevented by providing excellent first aid – ‘Basic Life Support’ at the accidentsite. It is pertinent to talk about ‘Golden Minutes’- the shortest period of time (3-5 minutes) after injury. The chances of survival of a person are greatest if the accident victim receives Basic Life Support (BLS) within that time. Biological death (victim’s brain is damaged irreversibly) follows clinical death when heart stops pumping blood in 3-5 minutes, if oxygen does not reach brain during this time. BLS involves immediate emergency care to restore or sustain vital functions i.e. airway, breathing and circulation of the accident victim. First thing to find is whether the person is responding or not. This has to be followed by initial assessment and restoration of ABCD where A is airway, B- breathing (respiration),C- circulation (pulse and bleeding) and then D-disability (any limb fractures). Main aim is to maintain airway, support breathing and circulation without specialized medical equipment and thus try to limit further damage in the period till proper medical help arrives.BLS helps maintain circulation of oxygenated blood to brain and save the life of a road accident victim during the period till proper medical help arrives.
BLS skill training is a must for doctors and paramedics. As it is the common man that usually is the first to be present at the accident site, it is very appropriate that common man especially teachers, students, drivers, police etc. are trained in BLS skills. Road accident victim who very often is in a life threatening situation can be a friend, relative or an unknown person. In such circumstance timely help with BLS can save the life of the victim till proper medical help arrives. As such BLS should be an essential skill for each and every person.
With this in mind, IOA’s theme for the day this year is ‘Each one Save one’. The mission is to save the life of accident victims by educating and training the people with BLS skills,as it is the common man who usually is the first responder at the accident site. People especially drivers, police- traffic police, teachers and students of colleges and universities, paramedics etc. shall be trained in BLS skills. The activities shall be carried on for one week from 1st to 8th of August- Bone and Joint Week. During this week various public awareness programs are also being arranged by various state chapters and orthopaedic fraternity all over the country for education of public about importance of BLS skills and its training. Posters and banners highlighting the importance of BLS shall be put at clinics and hospitals. People shall also be made aware of the importance of BLS skills through print, electronic and social media.
One of the big issues usually faced at the site of road accident is that majority of people especially in our country do not come forward to help a victim of road accident. It is not because people are not empathetic towards the plight of the victim, they internally want to help and do something that may help save the life of the victim but are reluctant and do not come forward because they are afraid of police and legal hassles which often is a big pain. Good thing is that Motor Vehicle Act has been amended to help road accident victims and protect good Samaritans who voluntarily, in good faith and without expecting any reward, render emergency medical or non-medical assistance to a victim at the scene of accident or transport the victim to a hospital. This law protects good Samaritans from harassment for all assistance- medical or nonmedical rendered by them to save the life of accident victim. However, lot needs to be done to educate the people, so that they proactively get involved in this noble act of saving lives of road accident victims.
(The author is formerly, Vice Principal, Prof. & Head of Orthopaedics, Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, Punjab)
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