Muscat: On an average 1,000 people lose their lives in about 10,000 road traffic accidents in Oman every year, according to Dr Neelam Suri, Head of Anaesthesia and ICU of Khoula Hospital.
'Crying shame'
Speaking at the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Oman Society of Anaesthesia and Critical Care (OSACC) at the Institute of Health Sciences Auditorium, the Chairperson of the Organizing Committee said that it was a crying shame for a beautiful country with world-class roads.
She revealed that the fatality rate in Oman has reached 30 per 100,000 people. "The comparable figures in the US are 14 and 17," she pointed out, adding that countries like UK, Sweden and Australia have managed to halve their rates in the last decade.
Head injuries
She stressed that the fall out of road accidents go beyond death. "The cost of these accidents is not only in terms of the victims who die but also in terms of the unfortunate survivors who become vegetative and wheelchair-bound due to head injuries."
She added that Oman was ranked fifth in the list of countries with highest road traffic accident rates in the world. Dr Suri also observed that most of the accidents took place between Wednesday and Friday, which is a weekend and most people in Oman travel from Muscat to interiors during this time.
The Senior Consultant at the country's trauma hospital urged the medical fraternity in the country to shoulder responsibilities with institutions such as ROP, PDO and others.
Critical care
"We as a medical fraternity have a responsibility for increasing awareness about issues like golden rules of initial management of head injury, simple measures of brain protection, transfer of these patients to appropriate facilities," she told the large gathering of anaesthetists, nursing and other paramedical staff that had gathered for the fifth meeting of the society under the theme of "An Update in Neuro Critical care".
Dr Nikhil Gosalia, Senior Specialist at Khoula Hospital and Organizing Secretary of the Conference informed that 250 delegates from all over Oman were attending the Meeting. Important topics including "Principals of Neuro Critical care", "Advanced Brain Monitoring", Management of Seizures", "Brain Protection after Cardiac Arrest", were presented.
Dr. Maher Al Bahrani, Head of Anaesthesia and ICU at Royal Hospital and Chairman of OSACC, said that the Society which is under the auspices of Oman Medical Association has a vision of enhanced quality of care and services in Anaesthesia and critical care by such academic meetings.
"Also the Society was committed to providing excellent training and skills to our young Omani anaesthesia residents from OMSB as they hold key to the future of this specialty in Oman," he added.
