The Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) conducted a webinar on road safety, featuring SLMA President Dr. Padma Gunaratne, College of Surgeons of Sri Lanka (CSSL) President Prof. Srinath Chandrasekara, Sri Lanka Police Director of Traffic Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Indika Hapugoda, and Road Development Authority (RDA) Additional Director of Network Planning and Road Safety R.A. Sudath. The concurrent physical event was held at the Lionel Memorial Auditorium on 4 May 2021 at 10 a.m.
The SLMA is the oldest professional medical association in Sri Lanka as well as Asia and Australasia, with a history dating from 1887 with the then “Ceylon Branch of the British Medical Association” finally evolving into the “Sri Lanka Medical Association” in 1972. The Voice of SLMA is a weekly series conducted every Tuesday courtesy of the SLMA, where important social issues are discussed and shared with the media and general public. This week focuses on road safety, and the event also marks one of SLMA’s contributions to the sixth United Nations Global Traffic Safety Week, which this year is celebrated between 17 and 23 May under the slogan “Streets for Life”.
The panellists shared that the topic at hand is a pressing issue, stating that the primary cause of death in Sri Lanka is infant non-communicable disease (NCD), under which they consider primarily heart disease, cancer, and stroke. However, deaths resulting in injuries and accidents is soon becoming a major proponent of preventable deaths in the country. SLMA President Dr. Gunaratne shared that 2.8% of the deaths caused in the island are by road accidents.
She said if we were to compare statistics from developed countries, from whom we can draw an example, our country’s statistics are extremely high; with eight deaths per day reported and one person dying every four hours, she said that road accidents have become a rampant and pressing concern as we see an unprecedented rise in such incidents. Out of the total accidents suffered, 800-1,000 persons end up with disabilities while 50% of the deaths caused are of the youth between the ages of 15 and 44 years, she shared, adding that these numbers are unfortunate as these are preventable deaths by nature.
The panellists listed three primary causes for road accidents: Road construction and environment, the number and types of vehicles on the road, and the fault of both drivers and pedestrians. They shared that there is a large allocation of funding and dedicated resources including specialists whose labour is spent on such patients resulting from road accidents.
A key take away from the discussion was that both drivers and pedestrians must access roads in a responsible fashion. CSSL President Prof. Chandrasekara shared that as was mentioned before, those who are subject to road traffic accidents are often “productive members of our society”, and in Sri Lanka especially, unlike in other countries where majority of the accidents take place on express highways, it can be observed that pedestrians often suffer by accidents caused by motorcycles and hired vehicles like buses, lorries, and three-wheelers.
He shared that as a surgeon, he must stress that while we have a great medical practice in Sri Lanka, so much so that within an hour of any person there is access to a medical facility with a surgeon in their ranks, with the excessive rate at which accidents occur, the existing resources may not be able to endure the potential increase in demand.
In closing, the panellists urged that there is a requirement of multiple ministries – including and not limited to the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Highways, and the Ministry of Defence – working in cohesive unison to combat this issue, and this connectivity amongst the separate organisations, they said, is lacking. Dr. Gunaratne shared that in order to address this matter, the SLMA has appointed a committee of specialists to exclusively address the prevention of road accidents, dedicated to carrying out their mission.
The SLMA is the oldest professional medical association in Sri Lanka as well as Asia and Australasia, with a history dating from 1887 with the then “Ceylon Branch of the British Medical Association” finally evolving into the “Sri Lanka Medical Association” in 1972. The Voice of SLMA is a weekly series conducted every Tuesday courtesy of the SLMA, where important social issues are discussed and shared with the media and general public. This week focuses on road safety, and the event also marks one of SLMA’s contributions to the sixth United Nations Global Traffic Safety Week, which this year is celebrated between 17 and 23 May under the slogan “Streets for Life”.
The panellists shared that the topic at hand is a pressing issue, stating that the primary cause of death in Sri Lanka is infant non-communicable disease (NCD), under which they consider primarily heart disease, cancer, and stroke. However, deaths resulting in injuries and accidents is soon becoming a major proponent of preventable deaths in the country. SLMA President Dr. Gunaratne shared that 2.8% of the deaths caused in the island are by road accidents.
She said if we were to compare statistics from developed countries, from whom we can draw an example, our country’s statistics are extremely high; with eight deaths per day reported and one person dying every four hours, she said that road accidents have become a rampant and pressing concern as we see an unprecedented rise in such incidents. Out of the total accidents suffered, 800-1,000 persons end up with disabilities while 50% of the deaths caused are of the youth between the ages of 15 and 44 years, she shared, adding that these numbers are unfortunate as these are preventable deaths by nature.
The panellists listed three primary causes for road accidents: Road construction and environment, the number and types of vehicles on the road, and the fault of both drivers and pedestrians. They shared that there is a large allocation of funding and dedicated resources including specialists whose labour is spent on such patients resulting from road accidents.
A key take away from the discussion was that both drivers and pedestrians must access roads in a responsible fashion. CSSL President Prof. Chandrasekara shared that as was mentioned before, those who are subject to road traffic accidents are often “productive members of our society”, and in Sri Lanka especially, unlike in other countries where majority of the accidents take place on express highways, it can be observed that pedestrians often suffer by accidents caused by motorcycles and hired vehicles like buses, lorries, and three-wheelers.
He shared that as a surgeon, he must stress that while we have a great medical practice in Sri Lanka, so much so that within an hour of any person there is access to a medical facility with a surgeon in their ranks, with the excessive rate at which accidents occur, the existing resources may not be able to endure the potential increase in demand.
In closing, the panellists urged that there is a requirement of multiple ministries – including and not limited to the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Highways, and the Ministry of Defence – working in cohesive unison to combat this issue, and this connectivity amongst the separate organisations, they said, is lacking. Dr. Gunaratne shared that in order to address this matter, the SLMA has appointed a committee of specialists to exclusively address the prevention of road accidents, dedicated to carrying out their mission.