‘Institute measures to prevent road accidents, others’
A medical technician, Dr Roxane Richter, has called for controlling measures to be instituted to help prevent road accidents and other disasters that occur in the country.
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She said the establishment of a mass casualty information system and training of emergency response teams in simulation and other medical exercises could help reduce the effects of such occurences.
She said the simulation exercises could take the form of educational role plays to sensitise people to the need to be disaster conscious.
Dr Richter’s suggestions formed part of the findings of a research she conducted through the training of emergency response teams and other medical aid personnel, which she made known at a lecture in Accra.
The lecture was attended by health practitioners, including nurses and medical students, from various hospitals in the country.
Rising incidents
Dr Richter said there had been a rise in disaster occurrences in the country and entreated drivers to always exercise caution on the roads.
She stressed the need for health officials to stand prepared at all times to enable them to handle patients in disaster situations efficiently.
According to her, research conducted at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi and other hospitals in the Ashanti Region indicated that the preparedness of the facilities towards disasters were inadequate.
Emergency equipment
Dr Richter said it was important that health facilities were provided with emergency equipment such as operating theatres, beds, diagnostic and surgical resources, to enable them to respond to emergencies effectively and reduce the high mortality rates that result from them.
She also called for health facilities to be staffed with skilled personnel to effectively handle accident cases. She further requested for the deployment of Geographical Information System (GIS), a devise for storing, mapping and analysing spatial data.
“Through the GIS mapping we can identify and map out high risk road traffic accident zones and assess hazards and existing ambulance services available,” Dr Richter said.
For his part, the Head of the Emergency Unit at KATH, Dr George Oduro, said many health institutions were not able to play their preventive roles effectively, making it imperative that the capabilities, skills and preparations of health institutions in the country to emergency response were assessed.