 A medical education programme on ‘Golden Hour in Trauma’ was conducted in Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute Pondicherry on the 20th of March 2015, to mark the opening of their new trauma operation theatre complex. The state of the art operation theatre complex which will function round the clock was inaugurated by eminent surgeon Prof. S. Robinson Smile. The medical education programme which was inaugurated by the Vice Chancellor of Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth Prof. K. R. Sethuraman, was attended by over 300 doctors from Pondicherry and neighbouring states. Eminent speakers from Pondicherry, Chennai and Bangalore from the departments of Emergency Medicine, Neurosurgery, General Surgery, Cardio-thoracic Surgery, Urology, Orthopaedic Surgery, Anaesthesiology, Paediatric Surgery and Maxillo facial Surgery enlightened the delegates regarding the various aspects of management of accident victims starting from the site of accident to hospital care. The speakers included Dr. Sasi Kumar and Dr. Saravana kumar from Chennai and Dr. Srinath Kumar from Bangalore. The topics ranged from pre hospital care and disaster management to the care of patients with head injury, chest injury, abdominal injury and various fractures. The role of triage in selecting the patients needing urgent medical care in case of natural calamities and accidents was discussed. The recent advances in trauma surgery were discussed. Earlier the patients with multiple fractures and wounds required a number of surgeries but now with the advances in medicine and tecnology it is possible to treat such patients with a single surgery. Prof. K.R. Thyagarajan stressed upon the need of expert care in the management of fractures by showing examples of how simple fractures that could have been easily treated in a few weeks’ time by an Orthopaedician were turned into disabling and life threatening complications by native bone setters. Prof. Anantha Krishnan suggested that 3 simple measures – avoiding cooking at ground level, lighting kerosene stoves while the fire was on and sleeping with lighted lamps in the room at night, would drastically bring down the number of domestic fire accidents in the country. Prof. Robinson Smile emphasized on the need to implement compulsory helmet rule to prevent fatal head injuries in two wheeler accidents. The need to educate the public about road safety and basic first aid measures in an accident scenario was stressed upon.
