Hyderabad: Only in 10 per cent of accident cases do onlookers go to the extent of taking victims to hospitals.
Most onlookers call the 108 emergency service and lend a hand in shifting the victim to the ambulance. Some of them call the service afterwards to check if the victim has been admitted.
The city traffic police has taken the lead in providing basic first aid to accident victims on city roads.
Hyderabad recorded 355 fatalities in road accidents, 191 were seriously injured and 2,039 suffered injuries last year.
Up to March, the city had seen 77 deaths on roads, 34 suffered grievous injuries and 505 sustained simple injuries.
“I still remember trying to call the police station late at night after seeing an accident victim at Kondapur last year. I could finally take the victim to a nearby private hospital with the help of an autorickshaw driver, but ended up spending half the next day to get the man admitted. I was asked to wait for his family to arrive. I could even not go to office the next day,” said Vishal Sharma, who had once helped out an accident victim.
“For seven days following the incident, I kept getting calls and requests from the family to meet them or to accompany them to insurance agents. After a point, it felt like a big burden. After that I have been limiting my involvement in calling 108,” Mr Sharma said.
