Road accident patients occupy 19% of beds in primary and secondary hospitals
Around 70% of patients injured in road accidents get admitted to primary and secondary level government hospitals of the country and occupy 19% of the beds there, said experts at a seminar organised in the capital on Thursday.
They said people injured in road accidents are hospitalised for an average of six days, which costs a patient Tk5,834 on average.
However, many patients have to be admitted to hospitals for several months, they said at the seminar titled "Impact of road crashes in the health sector and what we can do".
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The Bangladesh Orthopaedic Society and National Heart Foundation jointly organised the seminar at the National Orthopaedic Hospital and Rehabilitation Institute (NITOR).
Professor Khondker Abdul Awal Rizvi, secretary general of the National Heart Foundation and former director of NITOR, said hospitals in Bangladesh are overburdened with patients.
"Safe roads must be ensured to reduce the pressure on the health sector. As such, it is important to follow the road safety guidelines declared by the United Nations," he said.
He also urged the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to formulate and implement post-crash management policies to reduce deaths due to road accidents.
Dr Md Anwar Hossain Howlader, secretary of the Health Services Division of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, said that treating the victims of road crashes is not the solution. "Rather we should emphasise crash prevention. We can claim ourselves to be successful only if we can reduce the number of patients in hospitals."
Bangladesh Orthopaedic Society President Professor Dr Monayem Hossain presided over the seminar and Ilias Kanchan, chairman of Nirapad Sarak Chai, was there as a special guest.
Ilias Kanchan said that in many countries, the ministry of health is responsible for road safety. "But in Bangladesh, the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges is liable for it though there are roads under the LGED and various city corporations as well."
"If we want to ensure road safety, we need to work together with a common goal," he added.
