Train auto drivers as emergency responders regularly: Docs

With Tamil Nadu still recording a large number of fatal road accidents, the need to ensure that steps are taken to avoid such deaths is considered the need of the hour.

Various hospitals, as well as the state government had in 2016, organised camps and workshops to train auto and bus drivers on identifying emergencies and how to respond to such situations. Doctors in the State have therefore brought up the need for such programmes to be held more often to check the number of deaths due to the same each year.

Stating that it is important to train emergency responders, Dr J K Jaganathan, a Government Hospital doctor, said, “It has been estimated that over 70 per cent of accident victims in our country fail to receive emergency medical care within the ‘golden hour’ due to the lack of awareness on what needs to be done in such situations. In case of an accident, it is the traffic policemen and auto drivers who come across these cases first. Therefore, they prove to be the best people to train on BLS, which includes recognition of signs of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), heart attack, stroke and foreign-body airway obstruction (FBAO); cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR); and defibrillation with an automated external defibrillator (AED).”

“Last year, hospitals had taken the initiative to train college students and the general public on BLS. However, training these persons who are first to witness such cases is essential. We as doctors hope to raise awareness on the steps needed to be taken to manage common medical emergencies so that the patient can be stabilised before the transport to the nearest hospital,” he added.

Stressing on the same, Dr N Kannan, a senior doctor, said, “We understand the importance of first-response help during a critical moment and hence advocate to train and build an emergency equipped nation to avoid the fatal cases.”