Irfan Aligi
Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, which is also the revenue engine of the country, is sadly missing ability and capacity to accept the challenges in form of natural calamities, massive trauma and big emergency. There is dire need of at least one toll free number through which the citizens could reach the authorities concerned during calamities, trauma and disasters but it is not yet available for them. There is also dire need of establishing a national Trauma Registry in Karachi so that details of casualties, injured and others could easily be obtained under one hand, immediately and it would help overcome or at least reduce the incidents and onward traumas to the individuals as well as the country.
Experts on Emergency Medicine and foreign experts on health expressed these views during their addresses to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) annual symposium under the theme of “Emergency Care Conference.”
Pakistan’s top Neurosurgeon Prof. Rasheed Juma presided over the Conference while Emergency Medicine Experts from all over the world including Dr Yasir Qureshi from Jeddah, KSA, JPMC Executive Director Dr Seemi Jamali, eminent orthopaedic surgeon Dr Saeed Minhas, NICVD Emergency In-charge Dr Munawwar Khursheed, AKUH Dr Nadeem Allah Khan, Dr Rasheed Aqeel, ICR (Pakistan) representative Dr Mir Waiz, Dr Jawairiya Ashraf and Dr Saima Mushtaque and others.
Prof. Juma said that there is need to launch a toll free number like 911 (international) which should coordinate all the ambulances on wheels unanimously. In fact, all emergencies and trauma centres in tertiary care health facilities remain unaware of the emerging trauma and accident situations in Karachi and they miss the on time details about the injured in ambulances on way to hospitals.
