Broken ribs are the major cause of death in road accidents. If the doctors follow the right steps, 85 per cent of the victims can be saved, said experts.

While training around 50 surgeons from across the state on Advance Trauma and Life Support, Dr M Z Ansari, Trauma expert from Sandville Hospital, Birmingham, UK, trained them about the basics of trauma care.

“One fourth of the trauma cases succumb to road accidents due to multiple chest injury and most of these can easily be saved if they are properly treated,” said Dr Ansari.

“Due to the haphazard way of treating the victim, we lose a number of patients. The basics of trauma care, includes airway, breathing, circulation, disability and the environment of the patient, which should be checked immediately in a sequence before further treatment,” he added.

“The first step is to put a collar around the victims’ cervical column to prevent further damage in case of broken column. Then one should go ahead to check his breathing, pulse, blood pressure and finally see if he has any other fractures,” said Dr Ramakant, Head of Department of Surgery, CSMMU.

“These care can be given by paramedical staff at the roadside before shifting them to any hospital,” he added,

“There are five conditions of chest injury — tension pneumothorax, larger pneumothorax, open pneumothorax, flail chest and air way obstruction which can generally be tackled within five minutes if the doctor knows what to do,” said Dr Ansari.

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