While WHO considers road accidents to be a public health issue, India has hardly taken any measures to control the road deaths. And alarmingly, India stands top in the global list of number of fatal road accidents recording 1.4 lakh deaths annually. Further, Andhra Pradesh is one of the states that has highest mortality rates among crash victims.
Among the various reasons found to have contributed to these tragic numbers, lack of proper traffic enforcement mechanism and medical attention are found to be the important reasons. City police personnel have stated that there is high need to raise the number of police patrol vehicles and ambulances on state highways, besides assuring the public that they will be saved from any kind of legal hassles if the victims are taken to the hospitals.
Even the medical experts have viewed that the late arrival of victims, inadequate infrastructure and manpower in hospitals, turning victims away and lack of defined protocol is leading to the increased mortality rates due to road accidents.
Overall, the experts say that the need of the hour is the immediate, definitive and comprehensive management of trauma cases, besides change in the public attitude towards accident victims and deaths.
Source: Deccan Chronicle