Apollo Hospitals, Bilaspur conducted a workshop on safe driving to create awareness about the hazards of drunken driving.

During the workshop, the Apollo hospitals team appealed to people through presentations on road accidents, casualties and surgery. Apollo Hospitals will soon launch traffic awareness drives through skit shows in rural district areas. Addressing the workshop, Consultants of Department of Neurosurgery Dr. Sunil Sharma and Dr Rajkumar said that during people often invite mishaps due to reckless driving, not following the rules and driving under the influence of alcohol. They said that in the case of road accidents, mostly people sustain head injury for not wearing helmets and many patients cant even be operated successfully , due to multiple injuries and shocks. “Knowing your risks is the first step in preventing and reversing the chances of mishaps”, they said and added that accidents mostly take place dur to negligence and besides the patient, the entire family suffers.

Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr. Bharat Bhushan Borde informed that in the year 2014, India recorded about 4 lakhs road accidents which became 5 lakhs in the following year. According to International surveys, India ranks second for the largest number of road accidents with maximum number of deaths. Of the total about 30% of the deaths are of bikers. He said that in India, about 5000 road accident deaths occur due to reckless bike driving and 80% are due to head injuries because of not wearing helmets. Superintendent of Police Shaik Arif Hussain in his address said that Chattisgarh is the 11th most accident-prone state in India and most of the deaths are that of people aged between 15 – 35 years. He mentioned that people are aware of theirs rights but not their responsibilities. He said that Police personnel are always available to maintain law, order and traffic system but it is also the duty of the people to follow traffic rules and drive safely. He said that people must develop civic sense and decide which way they would like to shape the future of the next generation. He also added that it is the responsibility of every person to help accident victims and take them to the nearest hospital so that they can get primary treatment. People mostly die because of not receiving immediate medical attention after an accident. People who help accident victims will not be questioned by anyone.

The workshop was also addressed by former Inspector General of Police Dilip Singh Rajpal and Chief Operating Officer of Apollo Hospitals Sujal Sen. Dignitaries including Chief Dietician, V Champa, Sumana Choudhury, Ajay Zade, Devesh Gopal, Senior doctors of the hospital, staff members, accident survivors, their family members and a large number of people from all walks of life.