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‘Emergency Responders on the Road’: Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon conducts Basic Life Support Training for City’s Auto-Drivers

In a first such exercise, 40 auto-drivers were trained in basic life-saving skills and medical emergency response at Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon

Gurgaon, 21 April 2015: They came as auto-rickshaw drivers, and left as certified emergency responders! In an effort to raise awareness about road accidents and need for emergency response, Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon today conducted an elaborate training exercise for the city’s auto-drivers to equip them with crucial life-saving capabilities.

With more than 1 lakh road mishaps every year, India is often referred to as the accident-capital of the world. Along with poor conditions of roads, traffic management and reckless driving, lack of awareness about right emergency response is another factor that causes high incidence of road deaths in India.

The idea behind the Basic Life Support (BLS) training was to create trained emergency responders in our midst on roads.
As many as 40 auto-drivers attended the first such session of BLS training held at the hospital premises to create awareness about emergencies and accidents on the roads.

“According to some estimates, almost 80% of the accident victims in India fail to receive emergency medical care within the ‘Golden Hour’. This happens because of lack of awareness among the public about the do’s and don’ts to help a critically injured person. In case of an accident, the first people to come in contact with the victim on the roads are traffic policemen and auto or taxi drivers. Therefore the best people to start emergency responder training are these people. At the end of the day-long training, the auto-drivers were given certificates, and emergency contact numbers were displayed at their auto-rickshaws,” said Dr Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal, Consultant & Head, Department of Emergency Medicine.

While a lot of time is spent debating people’s lack of willingness to help in urban India, not much is talked about the pertinent issue of whether people are equipped to help in case of road accidents. The need for emergency medical training becomes crucial because it is the first responders who can take effective first steps to stop blood loss or administer an effective Cardio-pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) to save a life.

The participants were given an effective introduction to CPR & First Aid and also on how to deal with an accident victim so as to not aggravate his/her injury before reaching the hospital.