India was once again rocked with the devastating effect of an exploding terrorist bomb. As of writing this, eleven people are confirmed dead and 76 others are injured, in various stages of criticality. I am sure there are others who have fortuitously escaped with minor physical injuries, but the mental anguish of witnessing and being so close to an act like this can have a more long lasting and devastating effect.
The media has dusted off the old files and old tapes and are repeating the same old conversations and debates about what we as a Nation need to do to tackle terror. The people in power and the people who oppose them are voicing the same old platitudes. Fortunately, and probably because this is not Bombay, we are not hearing about the celebrated resilience of the people of India. Some people are voicing what they have been voicing so often, “Enough is enough.”
I am sure there are things that need to be done and that there are people to do them. If the current people are incompetent or unable, I am sure some day a more competent bunch of people will be found to do the job that needs to be done.
I do not have the knowledge or the intelligence to begin to presume that I might have the answers on how to tackle the menace of terrorism that has made Bombay as fearful a city to live in as Kabul and Karachi. Far from being presumptuous about so delicate and important a matter, I want to delve into a more mundane issue – the issue of healthcare.
Eleven people dead, scores injured. Eye witness accounts state that when they looked around in the immediate aftermath of the blast, they saw people with their lower limbs missing. I wonder if there is any published data of how many of the eleven people lost their lives through the blast itself, and how many lost their lives through blood loss. Losing a limb ... or two ... and that too the lower limbs means an inordinate amount of blood loss from the femoral artery, one of the most difficult arteries to contain in case of a severe external wound that is bleeding in the lower limbs.
Like in any other emergency, there were a lot of good Samaritans who were picking up these people, loading them onto whichever passing vehicle was willing to lend a helping hand to take them to the nearest medical facility. I wonder if any of them knew how to contain the severe blood loss. Excessive loss of arterial blood, particularly from the femoral artery can result in a very quick death. If only the Samaritans did their bit and put pressure on the femoral arteries, maybe the death toll could have been less than eleven. Like I said, I wonder how many of these people died from blood loss.
There would have been other injuries, superficial and deep. Cases of bleeding resulting from shrapnel injury would have been present. I wish more people knew the basics of first aid.
I am sure there was shock. Could people have been treated for shock, by lay people, before being attended to by a qualified medical practitioner? Shock can lead to a cardiac arrest. How many people in the vicinity of the Delhi High Court knew how to administer a cardio pulmonary resuscitation or CPR? If they knew and even if ONE person has died or has suffered from a cardiac arrest, that person could have been saved.
I wonder why we do not take it upon ourselves to learn the basics of first aid. We can save people’s lives. We can take control of emergency situations and become better citizens. These things do not always “happen to other people”. The “other people” could be us next, or people who are dear to us. If only we take control of our own destiny!
Let the Government do its job in tackling terror. Why can’t we learn to tackle the terror in the person’s eyes who sees his or her legs blown off? This is terror we can tackle and we do not require the Police or the Army or the Government or Barack Obama or Asif Ali Zardari to help us do that. Let us pledge to learn the basics of first aid – for us, for our children and for our fellow citizens. Otherwise many more people will die needlessly. Maybe some will learn, but I worry that maybe many will not.
One can take a basic course at a lot of places. The Indian Red Cross Society comes immediately to mind. For my part, I can offer the OTA Survival School (http://OTASurvivalSchool.com) to impart training in basic first aid.
PS: By the way, as a double whammy, just as I was penning this piece I felt a train rumbling at great speed through my house. An earthquake hit Delhi. A terrorist attack and an earthquake, both on the same day. Talk of lack of preparedness. It is not always the disaster management mechanism that will come to our aid. They will, soon, but till then we have to take care of ourselves and take control of our own destiny.
1 comment:
Kumar, this is a step in the right direction. But I wonder if this works in a trauma situation like the Delhi bomb blasts or an earthquake or a flood or any other such disaster. Phones may not be working. What is required is for all of us to be trained in basic first aid. Once the patient has been stabilised, a doctor can be contacted. Maybe even simultaneously. If I do not know where the femoral artery is, I doubt if a doctor advising me on the phone can be on real help. Just my two bits. But I agree, a doctor available on call is such a psychological relief.
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