Road accidents are the major cause for spinal cord injuries and about 1.2 lakh people die and around 12 lakh are seriously injured every year in India. India has 1.5 million people living with spinal cord injuries, the speakers said at an awareness meeting here on Friday.
The Ability People and The Spinal Foundation in association with the Department of Orthopaedic and Neurosurgery, King George Hospital (KGH), and Andhra Medical College (AMC) organised the awareness programme.
Mohammed Javid, who met with an accident and was dependent on his wheelchair for a decade, who was in the city on Friday as part of his ‘MJ on Wheels’, the movement launched by him to create awareness on spinal cord injuries, participated in the awareness meeting.
Mohammed Javid, who suffered spinal cord injuries,is on a pan India tour to spread the message of ‘proper handling of accident victims’, reached Visakhapatnam on Friday.
Superintendent of Police (Visakha Rural) B. Krishna Rao, who participated as a chief guest at the meeting, stressed on the importance of road safety measures to prevent accidents, head and spinal injuries. He commended Mr. Javid for undertaking the challenging task of driving across the country to spread the message.
KGH Superintendent P. Mythili spoke on the need for inter-departmental coordination between police, civil society and hospitals to prevent road accidents and post-trauma rehabilitation.
Manisha Palaskar, president of the Primary Healthcare Foundation, appreciated the Chief Minister for his support to the first responder trauma life support training among bystanders and autorickshaw drivers to prevent spinal injury during transportation to the hospital.
Dilip Patro, founder of The Ability People, spoke on the importance of shifting accident victims to the hospital in the ‘Golden Hour’ and said the State government was giving a reward of ₹5,000 to those, who help in ensuring that the victim was shifted to the hospital in the first one hour after the accident.
He also commended the Chief Minister for agreeing to extend ₹10,000 as monthly pension for those with spinal injuries in Andhra Pradesh and also to set up a model rehabilitation centre on the lines of CMC, Vellore, in Visakhapatnam and in Tirupati. He said that those who require any disability-related assistance can call on the toll free number 18004258911 at The Ability People.
Lokanadha Rao of the Orthopaedics Department of KGH, spoke on various aspects of spinal cord injuries, handling and treatment of patients.
Dr. Shyam Peri and Dr. Anil Devara were among those who attended.
