Thiruvanthapuram: In the wake of a series of incidents of delayed medical assistance to road accident victims, the police and health departments are jointly launching a programme to train cops in imparting first-aid to such victims.
A health care scheme for police personnel is also being introduced.
About 600 police personnel attached to traffic police, highway patrols and police stations along highways would be imparted training in first-aid under the programme titled SMILE - Seemless Medical Intervention for Lifecare Emergencies.
Training to the first batch of 30 police personnel will be over by July 7. Vehicles with life-saving equipment will also be provided to the cops, Home Minister Ramesh Cennithala and Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar said at a joint press conference here on Wednesday.
“In many accident cases, delay in giving medical assistance leads to even death. We hope to minimise such instances by imparting training in medical aid to be given to accident victims within one hour of accidents, which is often referred to as the golden hour,” said Mr. Chennithala.
The health scheme for cops, titled SHAPE -Systematic Health Assessment for Police Personnel involved free check-up and treatment to them at primary health centres on every third Saturday and advanced treatment at general hospitals and medical colleges. The scheme will be formally launched on July 19.
The Home Minister also said that all city police commissioners and district police chiefs were directed to conduct special adalats to receive complaints regarding blade mafias. Action will be soon initiated against some police personnel found to be having links with blade mafia.
