Road accident kills 280 people in India everyday (2005) – an initiative step taken by EHA DMMU to train and equip people to render during the golden hour of an accident:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has projected that by 2020 road accidents will be a major killer in India accounting for 546,000 deaths and 15,314,000 disability-adjusted life years lost.(Sources: WHO). The accident rate of 35 per thousand vehicles in India is one of the highest in the world. According to United Nations (UN) figures, about 1200 000 people die in road accidents every year. It was observed at the UN General Assembly two years ago that while the number of road deaths was decreasing in the west, they were rising in the developing world, in regions like the India sub-continent. Though in all states, the share of accidental deaths in cities and big towns is more than in rural areas, villagers invariably tend to be vulnerable along highways where buses and trucks emerge as major killers. In most countries the majority of trauma deaths occur outside of hospital. Atleast 1/3rd of potentially preventable deaths occur prior to arrival at hospital and over half occur during the hospital reception and resuscitation phase of care. There is a lack of state organized emergency ambulance services. Persons who shift the victims are usually untrained public. We at EHA DMMU committed to fill this vacuum and envisage to train every second person in handling emergency first aid with basic life supports training in India. This training initiative is the first step of our action towards fulfilling the vision beginning with the internationally recognised courses like Basic Life Supports(BLS) & Advanced Cardiac Life Support(ACLS) accredited by American Heart Association(AHA).
The first ever AHA accredited BLS and ACLS training programme has been successfully organised at DMMU's DEEM Centre Fatehpur, UP with the first batch of 19 participants on 10th, 11th and 12th November 2007. The training was conducted under the supervision and monitoring of St. John’s Medical Collage, Bangalore, which is AHA's recognised ITO. 6 Units of EHA responded to our invitation the training where most of them were from medical, nursing and paramedics streams. 6 participants took BLS. Dr. Babu Palatty of St. John's Medical College, Bangalore and Dr. Jeff Leman, Dr. Juni Chungath and Wendy Cowles from EHA Units were the instructors. The Basic Life Support Course consisted of identifying the victim, whose breathing has stopped, or both heart and breathing have stopped, and learning step wise what should be done. Candidates were taught when to call for help, and basic steps of ABCD (Airway, Breathing, Circulation & Defibrillation) with Automated External Defibrillator (AED). Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support which continued the life saving procedures started with BLS. The candidates learned to identify Cardiac Rhythms such as atrial fib, 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree heart block, Ventricular Tachycardia and V Fib. They were then taught how and when to use the defibrillator. Other advanced skills such as intubation, recognition and management of early heart attack and CVA were also taught, as well as the use of emergency medications. Hands on practice and demonstrations of proficiency were done. Candidates were required to pass the MCQ with 80%. The standard protocols were taught according to AHA guidelines. This allows doctors, nurses & paramedics both to understand and participate to the best of their abilities, as a team, during a medical emergency. Training manikins, ECG simulator for rhythm identification, AED trainer, defibrillator and an Intubation model were used for hands-on practice, and for candidates to demonstrate their new skills in the practical exam.
The course fees were very nominal. Broadwell Christian Hospital, the host hospital has provided comfortable accomodation and delicious meals at a very reasonable cost. Relevant candidates were provided with subsidised course fees. DMMU is planning series of training programmes specially focussing in the high disaster risk regions of North, East and Northeastern parts of India including Andaman & Nicobar Islands. DMMU has also taken up research initiative on road safety in the National Highway in Uttar Pradesh, India. Disaster Management & Mitigation Unit Terminology: |
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BLS and ACLS Training
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Accidental injury is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in India. Official figures say road accidents kill nearly 280 people every day in India (Sources: TNN).
Motorists or passersby are the people most likely to be first at the accident scene should be trained to render a basic level of first-aid. 
Most of the participants learned the skills very quickly, especially considering the short notice to study for the course. All those successfully completed the training were given internationally recognised AHA completion cards.