Reply to: Road accidents on Indian National highways, ambulance reachability and transportation of injured to trauma facility: Survey-based introspection of golden hour.
Dear Editor,
World population will become a global issue Worldwide. India has the highest population in the world. Increment in the population definitely needs several daily life requirements like food, land/houses, clothes and employment too.[1] Vehicles are the one of mandatory needs of humans. In the current time, every day thousands of new vehicles are sold and it increases the traffic and road accidents too.
The article “Road accidents on Indian National highways, ambulance reachability and transportation of injured to trauma facility: Survey-based introspection of golden hour,” published in Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care has shown some hidden points of the Indian highway and accident-related things. We also want to add some observations in the context of road accidents and getting help to save human lives.[2]
Indian highways are improving their quality and citizens can reach their destination early as compared to 2–3 decades ago. Though still there are several routes where highways are not maintained regularly.[3] Improper, ill-designed and non-maintained highways can be important reasons behind accidents and also for delays in reaching medical support to the victim.[4] Authors can add the road/highway quality in view of reaching the accidental spot.
One more thing, reaching the accident spot is also related to traffic on the road. However, there is less traffic on the highway compared to the city area. In the city, ambulances also take 20–30 minutes even if the distance is below 10 km. So reaching to highway within 30 minutes is appreciable. Availability of ambulance and response to the call also affect the time gap between the call received and reaching accident spots. Those things are improved after adding 108 along with the 102.[5]
We want to say that highway quality, traffic jams, ambulance availability and response to calls are the important points to evaluate the ambulance reachability to accident spots. Civic empathy on roads, like giving way, which allows the ambulance to reach the spot and back can be of immense help. Protocols during VIP movement may hamper such movements. The establishment of a trauma care centre near the highway has certainly reduced the turnaround time. The availability of cardiac ambulance and trained paramedic staff in the ambulance can also have a significant effect so that first treatment can start at the site only.
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References
- 1.Population and environment: A global challenge, published by Australian academy of science. [[Last accessed on 2024 Mar 10]]. Available from: https://www.science.org.au/curious/earth-environment/population-environment .
- 2.Giribabu D, Ghosh K, Hari R, Chadha I, Rathore S, Kumar G, et al. Road accidents on Indian National highways, ambulance reachability and transportation of injured to trauma facility: Surveybased introspection of golden hour. J Family Med Prim Care. 2024;13:704–12. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1832_23. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 3.Road Accidents in India 2022 published by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Transport research wing, New Delhi. Government of India. [[Last accessed on 2024 Mar 10]]. Available from: https://morth.nic.in/sites/default/files/RA_2022_30_Oct.pdf .
- 4.Eneh OC, Okosun A, Egbenta IR, Obi NI, Oloto MC, Ubani O, et al. Acomparative analysis of road and vehicle qualities as factors of road traffic carnage in Nigeria. BMC Public Health. 2023;23:2173. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-17089-2. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-17089-2. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 5.Singh S, Doyle P, Campbell OMR, Raman Rao GV, Murthy GVS. Pregnant women who requested a ‘108’ ambulance in two states of India. BMJ Global Health. 2018;3:e000704. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2017-000704. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2017-000704. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]