Follow Traffic Rules to Avoid Trauma

I have often seen several people in 2-wheelers and even large 4-wheelers flouting the traffic rules in various places in India. Showing dare-devilry at the edge of trains’ footboard is the current fashionable trend for those in their teens and twenties. These people are just waiting for accidents to happen. Accidents lead to trauma in most cases. Certain incidents causing trauma cannot be helped. But as far as road and railway accidents are concerned, traffic and railway rules are there in place. That is not to be denied. But do they follow the rules and does anyone care?
ajournalistreveals.com contacted Dr Sanjay Mehta, Director, Accident and Emergency Services, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital for an exclusive interview on trauma and its care. First of all he explained trauma as, “Any injury that could be life threatening or any incident that leaves the individual in distress.”
There are many ways in which trauma can be inflicted on individuals either consciously like suicide, improper handling of weapons or any object that could result in injury of a major kind or unconsciously like road accidents, terror attack, cylinder blasts, etc.

Treatment: Every hospital that deals with trauma has to follow the basic precautionary step once the patient/victim is brought to the hospital, called the ‘ABC’ step by step process.
A: Airway: airway management, to avoid a preventable cause of hypoxia, which is the reduction in the amount of oxygen reaching the body tissues.
B: Breathing: stabilize breathing and ensure the rhythm is correct.
C: Circulation: determine the presence or absence of a pulse.
Once these basic tests are conducted, the doctor turns to the immediate cause of trauma, which could be a bleeding wound/cut, internal injury due to road accident or falling off from a height, etc. The root cause of the injury is diagnosed and appropriate measures are taken to stabilise the same. The patient is then put on medications and painkillers for recovery.

Prevention: According to the doctor, we can prevent trauma, in most cases. Both the individual and the government have to work together to ensure trauma is minimised. On an individual level, we should all be careful while completing our tasks and follow the rules and instruction laid out, especially while crossing roads or handling inflammable objects, etc. The government on its part should ensure strict policies and make certain that basic safety measures such as, construction of footpath so as to minimise road accidents, availability of trained ‘first response specialists’ at the site of accident or in ambulances, so as to guarantee that victims are not manhandled while they are being brought to the hospital. Ineffective or incorrect lifting of the patient to transport them to the hospital can also cause severe trauma to the head, spinal cord/brain, etc.
Finally, the doctor said, “Most trauma cases that come to our hospital are usually road accidents, thus we request all individuals to follow the rules completely to avoid such trauma.”