More important than timely management of trauma cases is correct assessment of the damage. Surgeons, who recently assembled at the King George’s Medical University Lucknow for the UP Chapter of Association of Surgeons of India Conference (UPASICON-2003), stressed, on the ABC approach in the management of trauma.

A stands for airway, B for breathing and C for circulation. They said it was important to ascertain that the three were functional before starting the treatment.

The surgeons said medical officers at the PHCs must also be trained for proper diagnosis and quick referrals of trauma cases to the higher speciality hospitals if need be. There are days on which 20 to 30 trauma victims land up at hospitals at the same time. The paramedical staff in hospitals should be trained to cope with such situations to support the doctors treating them.

Dr RB Singh of Balrampur Hospital, who is one of the organising secretaries of the conference, spoke about polytrauma and underlined the need for training of paramedics. He said as many as 70 per cent of abdominal injuries could be diagnosed with simple tools. Ultrasound and CT scans were needed only for the remaining 30 per cent cases.

While discussing abdominal trauma, surgeons talked about the management modalities and various diagnostic tools used in it. Head injuries, they said, were easier to treat since the symptoms manifest quickly as compared to other trauma.

KGMU’s Dr PK Srivastava highlighted the role of ultrasound in treating diseases and handling trauma. Dr AK Khanna of the BHU (Benares Hindu University) spoke about primary trauma management.

Over 17,500 accident cases are received by various hospitals in Lucknow every year out of which over 2,200 victims succumb to injuries as medical treatment is not able to reach them on time.

Most of these lives could be saved if there were proper facilities and a trauma management system in the hospitals, which could provide immediate and necessary treatment to the victims during the first crucial hour after accident.

While highlighting these facts, Vice-Chancellor KGMU Prof Mahendra Bhandari in his lecture on organizing trauma services, said that a jeewan rakshak society had been created which has employees and ambulances besides a network of hospitals for management of trauma cases, but due to lack of government assistance and funds it has not been able to start functioning.

He said that SGPGI and KGMU could be made epicentres of trauma management with a network of other peripheral hospitals all over the state. He also called upon relaxations of rules to enable early and swift treatment in medico legal cases.

Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri inaugurated UPASICON-2003. President of the UPASICON Rajeev Bhargava expressed serious concern over the status of medical health facilities in the state and pointed out that several hospitals in the state were still running without the desired strength of surgeons.

Referring to the Kanpur Medical College, he stated that only five surgeons were working against the sanctioned post of 16 surgeons and called for early implementation of the Tikku Commission recommendations.