Mumbai: If India could have the national will to bring down polio cases to zero as well as the spread of HIV by 56 per cent, the country can definitely take serious efforts to stop deaths on railway tracks, particularly in Mumbai, said a disaster management and medical expert.
If only accident victims could be taken to the hospital within that first "golden hour", many lives could be saved, said Dr Kiran Pandit, founder of Gurukrupa Hospital, Thane, who conducts training in emergency medical help and first aid, apart from running the Saving Lives Foundation.
Officials stay away
He was speaking at a presentation at the Y.B. Chavan Centre on Emergency Medical Services to a public gathering of railway passengers' associations, concerned citizens and medical directors of government hospitals.
None of the railway authorities, who should have been there to hear the grievances and suggestions of rail users, was present. However, Supriya Sule, MP and daughter of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar, said the issue of rail safety in Mumbai's suburban trains would be taken up by the party with the union rail ministry.
More than 5-6 million commuters use the city's rail network daily and constitute 60 per cent of total rail users across the country. A recent government survey showed that 6,000 passengers die in Mumbai's suburban railway accidents every year.
"There is a lack of efficient medical response system in this sector," said Pandit.
Despite the Bombay High Court's directions to the railways that accident victims should be shifted immediately to the nearest hospital, this is not possible as there are no ambulances on standby.
If only accident victims could be taken to the hospital within that first "golden hour", many lives could be saved, said Dr Kiran Pandit, founder of Gurukrupa Hospital, Thane, who conducts training in emergency medical help and first aid, apart from running the Saving Lives Foundation.
Officials stay away
He was speaking at a presentation at the Y.B. Chavan Centre on Emergency Medical Services to a public gathering of railway passengers' associations, concerned citizens and medical directors of government hospitals.
None of the railway authorities, who should have been there to hear the grievances and suggestions of rail users, was present. However, Supriya Sule, MP and daughter of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar, said the issue of rail safety in Mumbai's suburban trains would be taken up by the party with the union rail ministry.
More than 5-6 million commuters use the city's rail network daily and constitute 60 per cent of total rail users across the country. A recent government survey showed that 6,000 passengers die in Mumbai's suburban railway accidents every year.
"There is a lack of efficient medical response system in this sector," said Pandit.
Despite the Bombay High Court's directions to the railways that accident victims should be shifted immediately to the nearest hospital, this is not possible as there are no ambulances on standby.
