Suiting up to help

Dr Soma Sekhara Reddy, an Emergency Physician, started Sadhana Unique and Innovative Trauma Services (SUITS) in 2014 to give corporate facilities to the marginalised people who suffer in road accidents. For this initiative, he introduced an insurance policy of Rs 799 per year and it can be avail upto two lakhs in the corporate hospitals all over India for accidents and trauma related services.

Speaking with The Hans India, Dr Soma Sekhara Reddy shared. “I worked as an emergency physician in many hospitals in the city. Poor and middle-class people die in road accidents and from trauma related diseases due to lack of money and awareness of the instant treatment after the accident. Any person who is hit by a vehicle in an accident must get proper treatment within one hour, otherwise, the conditions only worsen.

In most cases, people waste time in arranging money and in changing hospitals, which deteriorates the condition of victim further. I started ‘SUITS’ to overcome the problem by providing insurances worth two lakhs with a premium of only Rs 799 per annum,” he added.

“According to recent statistics, road traffic accidents are increasing at annual rate of three per cent. About 10.1 per cent of all deaths in India are caused due to accidents and injuries. A vehicular accident is reported every two minutes and a death every eight minutes on Indian roads. Nearly 80,000 lives are lost and 330,000 people get injured every year. A trauma-related death occurs in India at every 1.9 minutes,” he shared.

Any tragedy can be taken to either success or failure within the first 10 minutes of medical attention. This crucial period is also referred to as the ‘Golden Hour’. “If quick and the timely help is rendered in this period then it would ensure that the victim is nearly saved so that appropriate treatment can be made available from a nearby hospital.

Proper treatment in the ‘Golden Hour’ helps to save a life before irreversible pathological changes can occur thereby reducing or preventing death in the second and third phase. This period may range from the time of injury to definitive treatment in a hospital,” he shared.

The SUITS team deal with three main obstacles like, ‘lack of pre-hospital care’, ‘financial constraints’ and ‘lack of bystander after the accident’. They also have the ‘S’ care team which consists of physiotherapists, who have a good knowledge about trauma and its complications.

“We are giving membership for people aged between three-65 years. We have 270 doctors in our team. We tied up with more than 5,000 hospitals all over India. Our main aim is that no person should die due to lack of money and awareness,” he concluded.

By V Sateesh Reddy