The number of patients paralysed in road accidents has increased at an alarming rate, putting hospitals at stretch for quality treatment, said speakers at an event yesterday.
For this reason, both government and private hospitals have to increase their capacity to provide quality treatment to patients, they said at the two-day workshop on thoracolumbar spinal surgery for surgeons held in Dhaka, organised by Bangladesh Spine and Orthopedic Hospital.
“Surgeons have no alternative to increasing skills in treating paralysis [due to accidents],” Dr Abdul Awal Rizvi, former director of National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR) and president of Spine Society.
Dr Shah Alam, coordinator of the workshop, said, “It will not be possible to treat the increasing number of patients in road accidents unless private hospitals increase their capacity and skills in parallel to the government ones.”
Dr Abdul Gani, director of NITOR, said around 600 bike accidents were recorded at NITOR during the last Eid holidays. “The fatality rate is higher [in bike accidents] and around 5-6 percent of the patients have a spinal injury. But it is tough for government hospitals to provide treatment to all the patients. This is where private hospitals have to come forward,” he said.
Speakers at the event also said the prevalence of the thoracic disease has also been increasing day by day. As a result, patients have been rushing abroad for treatment. But there are hospitals and skilled doctors who can provide state-of-the-art treatment in the country now.
Speakers also stressed training surgeons in thoracic surgery.
During the workshop, a total of 28 surgeons received hands-on training from nine renowned surgeons, including Gururaj M Sangonthimat, consultant and head of the spine surgery department at Delhi’s Spinal Injury Center.
