Regional transport authority to take measures to reduce road fatalities

The regional transport authority (RTA) has asked the police to share details of all accidents across the city to analyse the average response time in each case.

The regional transport authority (RTA) has asked the police to share details of all accidents across the city to analyse the average response time in each case. Officials privy to the matter said they want to calculate the time taken by an ambulance to reach a spot or for an accident victim to get first-aid.

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In many cases, victims die due to excessive bleeding and not receiving timely medical help. As per the data, it takes 18 minutes on an average for a road accident victim to get medical aid. RTA officials say that this time should reduce to at least 12 minutes.

Dhaarna Yadav, secretary, RTA, Gurugram, said that they are trying to increase the chances of survival of road accident victims with the timely medical help. According to medical experts, the initial hour of the accident is considered as the “golden hour” and a delay of even a few minutes could prove to be fatal in some cases. In most of the accidents cases, people die due to excessive bleeding. Cutting down the time for ambulances to reach accident spot can help in reducing the number of fatalities.

In case of an accident, an ambulance usually comes from Civil Hospital or the trauma centre after receiving a call on 108. “We have asked the health department to cut short the response time and bring it down to 10-12 minutes,” said Yadav, adding that she has also asked the health department to tie-up with the private hospitals in the city and work out some arrangement under which the nearest private hospital can send its ambulance. This will considerably cut shot the response time,” she said.

Gurugram has a large number of private hospitals and these are located in almost every part of the district. Therefore, the nearest private hospital is in the best position to provide medical help to road accident victims, said RTA officials.

Private hospitals, along with private ambulance operators, together own around 500 ambulances in the city. People usually call on 108 or 100 (police control room) to report accidents and these calls go to the Civil Hospital from where an ambulance leaves for the accident victim.

Many times, victims are taken to the nearest trauma centres of multi-specialty hospitals “We will have to work out some system under which even a private hospital can get notification about an accident,” Yadav said.

In some cases, the victims are taken to the nearest private hospital from the accident spot, but private hospitals do not keep record of it. “Private hospitals should alert the health officials after admitting any accident victim. At present, they are only informing the nearest police station,” said Yadav adding that she has asked the health officials to prepare records of time lapse between road accidents and death of victims and find out ways to reduce the response time.

Dr MP Singh, deputy civil surgeon and head of the referral transport unit of Civil Hospital, said they have 24 ambulances out of which five are equipped with advanced life support system, 11 have basic life support, six are patient transport ambulances and two are for children. “We dispatch ambulance soon after receiving a call. The time to reach the accident spot depends on the traffic and distance. We will work towards improving the response time,” said Singh.

With an aim to reduce road fatalities in year 2021, the Gurugram Police jointly with the local authorities will start several campaigns in the city, starting January. They have decided to start more road safety campaigns and involve all government agencies, including the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram, the NHAI and the Haryana Sahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP). They will start publicity campaigns highlighting the dangers of erratic lane changes and the need for stricter police enforcement, said the police.

KK Rao, commissioner of police, said that the police personnel are mostly the first who can utilise the golden hour and immediately give first aid to the victim. We have been training them with the help of private hospitals. “The ambulances are expected to provide paramedic care, which may ensure the survival of accident victims till he/she receives specialised care from a hospital. The first aid training (among traffic police) is rudimentary as it does not train its personnel to provide emergency medical treatment,” he said.