Departments of Neurosurgery and Plastic & Reconstructive surgery of Krishna Institute of Medical Sciecnes (KIMS) Hospital, Secundrabad on February 3 organized a comprehensive symposium on craniofacial injuries involving head and face.

ENT surgeons, Intensivists, Ophthalmologists and Dental surgeons also participated in the program. The one-day program had intense deliberations contributed by speakers from all over India on various topics on surgical and medical aspects of these injuries. This program is also timed keeping the upcoming head injury day on March 20 in collaboration with Stryker India.

Dr Manas Panigrahi and Dr Krishna Reddy, Neurosurgeons, Dr N Hemanth Kumar, lastic Surgeon, Dr Bhaskar Rao, CEO of KIMS Hospital , Dr R Parvathi and Dr B Suchanda, course directors from NIMS and a huge panel of doctors of allied specialties have all come together in organizing this unique symposium on multi-disciplinary treatment approach.

There was also emphasis on the prevention & treatment of head injuries & facial injuries. They emphasized the need to sensitize the public along the highways by conducting awareness programs with government and private initiative. Forum feels deeply saddened due to the fact that more than 90 per cent of the injured are in their most productive age and belong to middle class and lower middle class. These strata of society due to their meagre resources and lack of preparedness for the situation (road traffic accidents) is heavily burdened and face many financial problems.

They also said that in the present scenario, health is more of an individual’s responsibility rather than state’s and it is not uncommon for middleclass families to get into heavy financial crisis because of health-related problems. They emphasized the need for buying a good health policy to take care of the spending on health issues. This should be a bigger priority for our society rather than spend money on family functions and various other avoidable expenditure instead, they opined.

Government should take this issue seriously and give emphasis on proper road laying, education & implementation of traffic rules and rapid response teams in case of accident. It should also increase the budget allocation for health and spend it on reviving the public sector hospitals. There is need to raise the limit of tax exemption on health insurance premium.

In India every year nearly 1.5 lakh people die due to road traffic accidents and 5 lakh people are injured due to these. Road traffic accidents are the leading cause of death among young people aged 15 to 29 years. Children, pedestrians, cyclists and two-wheeler riders are among the most vulnerable road users. Our country has the dubious honor of topping the world list of fatalities due to road accidents. Human factor contributes significantly to increasing number of accidents in India.

Drunken driving, over speeding, refusal to follow traffic rules, not wearing helmets and seat belts, usage of mobile phones while driving are main reasons found for road traffic accidents during interaction with patients. They also said that the bad conditions of roads, lack of pavements, lack of road signs, driver fatigue and sleepiness are all risk factors for road accidents. They also suggested that parents should take the responsibility of sensitizing the next generation regarding traffic rules and regulations. A compulsory curriculum in schools about traffic safety should be included, they added.