Health problems continue to increase day by day. People fall ill,or simply may fall and fracture a body part. This is normal, or rather you could call it just human. Life has become such a rat race in people and institutions trying to portray their excellence while forgetting important, basic aspects like having a nurse on duty. Its simple and it is practical.
It is important to focuss on these important aspects whether it is an university or merely a workplace.
Our university does not have a infirmary with proper facilities eventhough there are over 10,000 students on roll.
We do not have a trained nurse or a medic to handle emergencies or to administer basic first aid.
We do not have an ambulance or let alone a stand by vehicle for an emergency,the university prefers the use of Auto Rickshaws.
Training in first aid is not given to students or teachers.
The use of a gurney or a stretcher is unheard of.
The councellor is the contact person for any emergency and all she has to offer is one single bed, and of course the immediate transportation to the nearest hospital which is very much appreciated, eventhough it is often by Auto Rickshaw.
Students and teachers continue to stare at or promptly shift the injured or the ill to the councellors room.
Follow up procedures are minimal once a student is admitted into a hospital.
Staff members do not accompany the ill/ injured to the hospital,they feel another student is responsible enough.
And finally one of the core values of our university is social responsibility.
These are little things I, as a student have observed in my 2 years of education at the University. I am not pointing fingers or blaming anyone, but it is just the system and how it functions. We read the newspapers everyday and we see some sort of accident that has happened and the casualty dying on the way to the hospital or his or her condition aggravating while being transported to hospital.
Have we ever taken a minute to think why this happens?
It is because of the lack of awarenes, Spot On!
People are scared of getting involved because they do not have the knowledge or the skills to handle an emergency be it an auto accident or merely just a case of fainting.
The good samarital act exists, but how many are aware of it?
Education starts from the grassroot level.That is at the school and university level.You and I cannot go upto a person on the road and tell him,"Hey man, you are doing it wrong, this is the correct way to lift a casualty".We just cannot do that. It is just the way they have been functioning for the past so many years. But,if we go up to a college student and ask him,"would you like to learn how to handle a casualty with a damaged spine?", I am sure he would be atleast interested to learn. This is where change begins.It always begins on a small scale, sometimes very frustrating. The mindset of a community takes a while to change, but it can be done.We have to try. It cannot be done merely by rhetoric. We have to practice it ourselves.
Let us rally for change and begin to spread awareness and develop as human beings.Education alone is not going to do it.
First Aid Saves Lives.
