A large number of deaths caused due to accidents can be significantly brought down with a robust trauma system, which is not up to the mark across the country, AIIMS Director M C Mishra said.
"There is a gross incongruity in trauma services available in various parts of the country and complete lack of organised trauma care in rural areas. Mortality can be significantly brought down with a robust trauma system in place," Mishra said.
He announced AIIMS, New Delhi's tie up with Australia's Alfred Health and Monash University at inaugural event of the sixth International Congress-TRAUMA 2013 here.
The collaboration is aimed at strengthening trauma-care systems across the country.
"Trauma care or emergency care will improve with the system approach rather than a unit or centre approach. As of today, in India, the trauma system is not in place and various components in pre-hospital settings, like what we call pre-hospital ambulance services, efficient rescue which means taking patient to hospital within the shortest possible time and also protocolised care is not up to the date," Mishra said
Mishra said that there is a lot to be learnt from Australia.
"We will learn from Australian experience because they have an excellent trauma system in place. Both the countries under this project will share their trauma care services, expertise and research information to improve trauma care systems," he said.
The AIIMS director also stressed on following the safety concept which he said, starts at home.
Forty per cent of injury volume that we receive at trauma centres are head injuries, which can be prevented if people wear helmets and fasten them properly, he said.
These cases of head injuries consume maximum resources with poorest of outcome, he said.
Stressing at the importance of trauma care, Shashidhar Reddy, vice chairman of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), who was also the chief guest at the event, said that WHO's report cites Trauma as being the third largest killer by 2020 in developing countries and India will contribute very significant number of people to this.
"The ambulance system in our country is not enough, and the research which will come out of this collaboration is also going to focus on how the cost of the trauma care can be brought down and lives can be saved by rushing people to the hospitals in shortest time," Reddy said.
Australian High Commissioner to India Patrick Suckling called the collaboration an "excellent example" of world class scientific and technological cooperation between India and Australia.
"We are going to combine forces and combine strengths to research on people's access to trauma support and also come up with ways to make it cost effective," he said.
The Australian and Indian governments are investing over 2.6 million dollars through their Australia-India Strategic Research Fund Grand Challenge Scheme, to find the best ways of delivering needed care to injured people.
