With a whooping 80.1 per cent of people per 1000 dying of accidental deaths in the Union Territory of Puducherry, the importance of strengthening emergency medical care is prominently felt.
As per data available at the National crime records bureau, the Union Territory of Puducherry has the highest rate of “accidental deaths,” much higher than the national accidental death rate of 32.6.
This rate has increased by 7 per cent when compared to last year. In terms of drowning as well, Puducherry contributes to 8.3 per cent of the total deaths in the country.
Puducherry also leads the country when it comes to percentage of sudden deaths, with 56.1 per cent. A total of 650 cases, with 608 men and 42 women dying “suddenly,” because of heart attacks, epilepsy or other causes.
In terms of accidental deaths in 2012, there were 27 cases of electrocution, with four people injured and 23 people dying. There were 49 cases of people dying because of falling and 25 people dying in fire accidents. When it comes to road accidents, 44 people died in lorry accidents, in bus accidents 42 people died, 24 in car accidents and two wheeler accidents accounted for 64 of the 233 people who died on the road.
Overall, in 2012 alone, there were 1,510 accidental deaths, which may not be a large number in a State, but in a place with a small population, it cannot be ignored, a senior police official said.
One of the main reasons for such a high rate of accidental deaths on the road is that Puducherry is an extremely porous State. There are many vehicles coming in from the neighbouring states. As for the other accidental deaths, there should be a way to reduce them, the official said.
“When there is such a huge burden of accidental deaths, it is important to improve the quality of emergency care provided to the people,” Director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences M.C. Misra said.
In this connection, the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research is looking to improve the Emergency Medicine and Trauma Care. They will be hosting an international summit (ISEMT 2014) with 102 experts from across the world to teach and exchange ideas.
They are partnering with the American Academy of Emergency Medicine in India, the Global Academy of Emergency Medicine and the Jipmer Alumni Association of North America for the summit, a release said.
The inaugural session will take place at 1.45pm at the JIPMER auditorium on Friday.
