Consultant’s verdict: Trauma responsible for highest number of deaths among young adults

A Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon with the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Dr. Adewale Olakulehin, has called for directory of all hospitals, be it government, private and missionaries, in order to save valuable lives of Trauma patients in the country.
He also called for the establishments of Regional Trauma Centres in each of the six geo-political zones and to be adequately equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, so as to check prevalence of accidents-related diseases.
Olakulehin who is also former Chairman, Medical Advisory Council of the teaching hospital, disclosed that contrary to misinformation, Trauma is responsible for highest number of deaths among young adults in the developing countries.
The medical consultant stated that unfortunately Non-Governmental Organisations [NGOs] give premium considerations to HIV/AIDS which claims lesser number of deaths compared to Trauma.
The medical expert explained that accident-related deaths are rampant than HIV/AIDS and their causes include use of motorcycles for commercial purposes, bad driving culture, lack of drivers’ education, use of alcohol, communal clashes, poor road designs, collapsed buildings, and sports injury.
While pointing out that vehicular crashes and motorcycles injuries account for majority of the deaths, he added that worst still, a number of Trauma patients do not receive prompt and adequate care due to organisational problems in the developing countries, including Nigeria.
According to him, ‘’the Directory which must contains open lines of all the hospitals for easy access, should also include their capacities in terms of manpower, equipment and facilities as well as locations, such that once a patient is picked up , he or she can be taken to the right hospital through the Directory. Unlike the present situation whereby patients involved in auto-crashes are taken to more than three hospitals without knowing their capacities. By the time such patients are referred to the appropriate hospital, they would have given up. So, if there had been the Directory, it would have saved the valuable lives lost’’.
Olakulehin further stressed that the regional trauma centres would complement functions of the only existing three centres located in Lagos, Enugu, and Kano, which he said, are ‘grossly inadequate’.