On World Trauma Day, Apollo Children’s Hospitals along with Apollo Shine foundation recognized the unsung heroes of trauma care and emergency services of 108 and 1066. Dr. J. Radhakrishnan, Principal Secretary to the Govt. of Tamil Nadu- Health & Family Welfare Dept, Dr. Ravi, IPS Additional DGP, Tamil Nadu and Dr. Sathyabhama, Regional Director for Medical Services, Apollo Hospitals gave away awards and mementos to the life savers.
World Trauma Day is marked on 17th October, every year to showcase the need to prevent deaths and disabilities caused by accidents. Trauma is one of the leading causes of death in India and is usually due to lack of immediate medical attention. India accounts for one-fifth of global deaths due to road accidents. 1 million people are killed and over 20 million hospitalized each year.
In India, we see 400 fatalities a day which is 17 per hour with 16 children dying on Indian roads daily with 1 death happening every 4 minutes. 90% of these are due to driver carelessness and only 10% are due to other reasons.
Speaking at the occasion, Dr. Sathyabhama, Regional Director for Medical Services, Apollo Hospitals, said, “Trauma injuries and death is a silent epidemic that we have to tackle, the challenge is the increasing number of emergency cases in Tamil Nadu. The dedication, the courage, expertise of the entire Emergency teams from 1066 and 108 has been tremendous. The Apollo Hospitals Group is privileged to have outstanding Emergency departments in Trauma/Surgical Critical Care. The Emergency care teams are available 24X7 at all hospitals to provide selfless services. I am honored to be here on this World Trauma Day, which highlights the need to prevent death caused by accidents.”
Apollo Children’s Hospital and Apollo Shine Foundation student health initiative together organized a 10 day awareness campaign called “Voice of the Students” across the schools in the city to educate motorists on road safety and get them to pledge and abide by traffic and safety rules. Various programs like skits, safety walks holding placards with road safety awareness slogans were organized as a part of the campaign. Post the 10 day awareness drive, the final award ceremony was organized in which the heroes of the emergency services and students of participating institutions were recognized with awards and accolades.
As we recognize our emergency caregivers on World Trauma Day, Apollo Hospitals group, recently signed an MOU with Alert, an NGO that that trains laypeople in emergency management, creating an awareness, imparting skill training of first aid and creating first responders.
