Cops of disaster response force to be trained in emergency medical services

LUCKNOW: Now, police personnel working with the state disaster response force (SDRF) will get posted for a day at the KGMU trauma centre.

They would be trained on different aspects of emergency medical services, said a senior KGMU doctor. The move is aimed at helping them perform better while dealing with crises.

“As cops and ambulance drivers are the first respondents in case of a medical emergency such as an accident, it is important to train them in handling such patients,” said Professor Sandip Tiwari, head, trauma surgery department of the King George’s Medical University.

“The idea is to make them learn the basics of emergency treatment, so that when they help victims, they are better informed about the treatment protocol and are able to coordinate properly with doctors in the emergency,” he said.

On Wednesday, the department trained 100 police personnel on providing first aid to road accident victims, performing cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and helping manage injuries before the patients reach the hospital.

Director general of police, OP Singh, was present at the sessions that were a part of the Aware-Alert-Action-Survival (AAAS) programme.

Prof Tiwari said it had been decided to post 350 SDRF members, in batches of five each, at the emergency wards, to help them witness how patients were brought in, what medical services they were provided first, and how they were attended to during the first 24 hours.

“If the police personnel learn

about this, it will be of great help to the medical staff as well,” he said.

Prof Tiwari said that 2,000 cops working in flood relief would be trained in the next phase. “The entire force will be trained in phases,” he said.

The training on Wednesday was imparted by a team comprising

Prof Tiwari, Prof Vinod Jain (dean, Institute of Paramedical Sciences) Dr GP Singh (department of anaesthesia), Dr Kirti Srivastava (professor, department of radiotherapy), Dr Samir Misra, (associate professor, department of trauma surgery) and Dr Rajeev Misra, programme coordinator.