Fatal road accidents: Hry leads north in child mortality rate at PGI

Haryana, despite smaller contribution to patient load on the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) here, leads the northern states in the death rate of children who are admitted to the premier institution after road accidents.

A retrospective study (19742013) by the forensic medicine department of has found this child mortality rate at the PGI to be almost 37% for Haryana. The study published in the Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences analysed the data of accident victims below the age of 18 who died during treatment.

The study analysed 15,212 unnatural deaths reported at hospitals between 1974 and 2013. It was found that more than 49% of these deaths were in road accidents, and almost 10% of the victims were children. Punjab with 33%, Chandigarh with 12%, and Himachal Pradesh with and 10% child death rate (institutional cases) trail Haryana. With a figure of 27%, Punjab tops in the category of new patients registered for treatment at the PGI, where Haryana contributes only 15%.

Haryana has always witnessed maximum casualties, with no significant change over the study period.

Himachal Pradesh and Punjab have witnessed an increase in fatalities in recent years. The casualties from Himachal Pradesh exceeded that of Chandigarh over the past 10 years.

Of the children who died during treatment, 35% were in the age group of 16 to 18; followed by 25% in the 11-to-15 bracket; 24% in the 6-10 category; and 15% below the age of 5.