Mama FM
Traffic accidents can be prevented – medical doctors call for action
16 January 2023, 12:22 pm
Byamukama Alozious
byamukamaalozious1993@gmail.com
From right is Dr Asiimwe Frank, Next is Dr Naku Edith and Dr Herbert Luswata
Uganda Medical Association has called for action on endless accidents in Uganda which have claimed many lives while others remain with permanent physical effects such as cutting of legs, deep head injuries and trauma and excessive expenditures
While addressing the press Conference in Kampala on 12th January 2023 the medical fraternity led by their president Dr Edith Naku and Asiimwe Frank representing the association of surgeons urge the pubic to be mindful while on the road, they want that Key areas and hospitals near accident prone p-laces be equipped with facilities and staff on standby to handle such emergencies. These should be monitored and supervised closely by a/the national or inter-district emergency care authority.
In the some way Doctors fraternity call every driver to test before getting their driver’s license and UMA also strongly recommends re-testing and physical examination for Passenger buses and Passenger Service Vehicles (PSV) and Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) drivers every 6/12. Examination of eye sight and medical examination of long distance drivers by competent medical personnel at affordable rate may be critical to prevent and reduce the frequency and extent of nasty road crashes.
The current compensation of accident victims is at one million however Doctors want that it be increased through urgent revision of the insurance compensation for road accident victims should be revised to realistic amounts because the cost of trauma care is much higher.
The top medical leadership has also called upon fellow health workers to offer they to work in multi-disciplinary teams to provide the standardized and best health care to casualties of accidents in and around crash sites, in ambulances and in the referral hospitals and want ministry of health to deploy timely ambulance services that are equipped not only for transportation but for possible surgical interventions from the crash sites as well as emergency physicians and surgeons and their availability on call should be followed up by the organizations responsible e.g. Kampala City Council Authority ( KCCA) and the Highway Responsive Teams at each district.
According to police report of June 2022 to 31st December 2022, a total of 1,825 accidents occurred during this period and out of these 321 accidents were fatal, 995 were serious and 509 were minor where 1,512 were victims during this period and out of these 366 people died and 1,146 sustained injuries.
Ends