Accident management training for STF officers

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

The Health Ministry will provide special training on accident management to 35 officers attached to the Special Task Force (STF) to be deployed along the Southern Highway.

Nursing officer P.R. Soysa with the trainees.

The training was planned by Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena on the direction of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, a ministry spokesman said.

According to the spokesman, the training commenced last Monday at the Colombo National Hospital accident ward.

The officers are trained on how to reach the location as fast as possible, how to provide first aid and instant care, how to prevent further injuries to patients with bone fractures while transporting them to hospitals, etc.

The first hour of the accident is called the `Golden Hour' because there is 60 to 70 per cent chance to save a victim's life. Accident Ward Director Dr. Prasad Kariyawasam and nursing officer P.R. Soysa conducted the training.

The training will be extended to the other parts of the country soon on the direction of Minister Sirisena, he said.

At the moment, Sri Lanka does not have a well trained special accident management team to be deployed on roads. Many foreign countries have such teams. Sri Lanka trained such teams from time to time but they have been assigned for other duties and not for the specific duty that they had been trained for, he added.