Emergency treatment: ‘One patient dies of trauma in Pakistan every three minutes’

Instructors say emergency doctors must know how to treat patients.


Our Correspondent November 23, 2012

LAHORE:


Trauma injuries are the number one killer in hospital emergency departments in Pakistan, King Edward Medical University (KEMU) Department of Surgery Chairman Professor Muhammad Arshad Cheema said at the concluding ceremony of the three-day 32nd Trauma Course at KEMU.


Some 120 doctors, Post Graduate Trainees (PGs) and medical students from various medical institutions attended the course.

Cheema said it was important to have special trauma courses since many doctors are unaware of how to deal with patients who have suffered trauma.

He said doctors in the West and Middle East are not allowed to serve at an emergency department until they are trained to deal with trauma patients.

“All doctors at an Emergency Department must know what to treat first for a patient with multiple injuries. Many a time, a doctor starts treating a fracture or injury while the patient dies due to a breathing issue,” he added.

“One person dies of trauma in Pakistan every three minutes… The current course aims at equipping doctors to improve this statistic,” Cheema said.

Participants were shown how to manage patients with multiple injuries.



The instructors stressed that the first examination (or primary survey) should identify life-threatening injuries, including airway obstruction, chest injuries causing breathing difficulties, severe external or internal hemorrhage or abdominal injuries. Dr Rana Sohial, an instructor, said doctors could apply the ABCDE formula. “A is for airway, B for breathing, C for circulation, D for disability, E for exposure,” he said. He said doctors can quickly decide if a patient needs to be shifted to a separate hospital using the Primary Survey.

Trauma Course Director Dr Amir Riaz Bhutta said each medical official should be trained to manage trauma. “A trauma course should be compulsory for all medical students in Pakistan,” he said.

Trauma Course Coordinator Dr Bahzad Akram Khan Niazi said, “If we manage to save even a single life after this training, it means we have achieved our goal.”



Course booklets, CDs and certificates were distributed amongst Trauma Course participants.

Lahore General Hospital Professor of Neurosurgery Dr Tariq Salahuddin, KEMU Professor of Cardiology Dr Muhammad Azhar and Allama Iqbal Medical College Professor of Surgery Dr Zafar Ali were amongst the faculty.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24th, 2012.

COMMENTS (1)

imaan | 11 years ago | Reply

inshallah may allah cure them and make tham wellllll ameeen

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