Citation

Maheshwari J, Mohan D. J. Traffic Med. 1989; 17(3-4): 23-27.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, International Association for Accident and Traffic Medicine)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a study conducted at the Emergency Department of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, to understand the issues concerning emergency care of road crash victims. The study done in collaboration with the Centre for Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, was conducted over a four month period when all road crash victims and those accompanying them who reported to the Emergency Department were interviewed. Almost no road crash victims get any first aid on the site of the crash, only 15% reach the hospital within 15 minutes and only 4% were transported by ambulances. Injury cases involving fractures and concussions are at least 20 times that resulting in fatalities. However, police data records show all injury crashes to be only about 4 times that of fatalities showing that a police data grossly underestimate crashes resulting in injuries. It would be very difficult for capital intensive trauma care systems to be introduced in low income countries. It is essential that low cost trauma care systems be designed and trauma management be introduced as an area of specialization in medical colleges and schools of public health in low income countries.