A certificate in first aid practices should be made mandatory for issuing driving licences given the increase in the number of road accidents, Governor Surjit Singh Barnala said on Monday.
Addressing the annual conference of the St. John Ambulance organisation after presenting the awards for outstanding service, Mr. Barnala said first aid training and knowledge was imperative and urged organisations like St. John Ambulance to create more awareness in society, especially among youth.
“They should work with a mission to make at least one member in a family to get trained in first aid,” Mr. Barnala said.
The Governor pointed to the WHO-Global Status Report on Road Safety finding that India had the highest number of road accidents in the world with a death toll aggregate of 1,30,000 annually. What is alarming is that every hour, 40 persons under the age of 25 die in road accidents across the globe while in India at least 14 persons die every hour, he said.
The Governor gave away rolling trophies for best performance, road safety and first aid competition categories.
In his key-note address, Naresh Gupta, former Chief Electoral Officer, stressed the importance of first aid in making the difference between life and death in common conditions of choking, heart attack, severe bleeding, unconsciousness and breathlessness.
He suggested launching a website to disseminate first aid guidelines and the teaching of the same in educational institutions.
D.K. Oza, former Vice-Chancellor, Gandhigram Rural University, said St. John Ambulance as one of the few social service organisations that had international roots, scope and outreach.
C.S. Veeraraghavan, honorary state secretary, St. John Ambulance, said with 120 centres in the State, the organisation had imparted trained in first aid measures to an estimated one lakh volunteers, including police, drivers and conductors.
D. Vadivel Mugundhan, chairman and N. Sugalchand Jain, vice chairman also spoke.
