Indian-American Surgeon Aims to Save Lives on Indian Roads by Training People

An Indian-American surgeon Dr. Dinesh Vyas is hoping to raise $25 million to train 1.5 million first responders - the first rescuers to arrive at an accident scene - in five years to prevent over 1,000 deaths on Indian roads every day that cost the nation $50 billion annually.

Rajasthan University-educated surgeon Dr. Vyas, an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery at Michigan State University since 2011, has already trained over 4,000 first responders in India using a $200,000 simulator dummy.

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‘Dr. Vyas suggested that training 1.5 million first responders at 50 centers in the next five years would stall a 3% increase in mortality. The team aims to reduce the mortality to 1% annually, at par with any developed nation.’

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He is now leading a strong international multi-disciplinary team to India from December 26 to January 4, 2016, to win support for the program from Indian auto, IT and healthcare industries by way of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Dr. Vyas said, "This program will generate $5 billion business for auto, IT and healthcare industries and will save a lot of lives. Trauma and roadside epidemic is one of the biggest health concerns for India. Unfortunately, it has been neglected for a long time and with a 3% annual increase in deaths, we have more than 1,000 deaths everyday and 5,000 severe disabilities."

Over the last eight years, Dr. Vyas' team has established five centers in Rajasthan which have trained 2,000 first responders in person and another 2,000 through an online course with the help of 200 trainers under its umbrella. Dr. Vyas said, "Training 1.5 million first responders at 50 centers in the next five years would stall a 3% increase in mortality. Our next five-year goal will be to reduce the mortality to 1% annually, at par with any developed nation."

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The idea behind taking an international delegation to India, Vyas said, "It was to address the trauma problem holistically. We are concentrating systematically on all the aspects of trauma, to prevent a burden on the health system, with a focus on pre-hospital care while simultaneously building a platform on prevention."

The aim is to develop and build a contextual training program in multiple aspects of trauma in various Indian languages starting with Hindi, Bengali and Telugu.

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The international delegation comes with major strengths in fields ranging from surgery and trauma and critical care to mass media and communication to health legal issues and highway engineering. The delegation includes faculty from US and Britain, with several endowed professors from Pittsburgh, Michigan State and other major universities.

Dr. McSwain from Tulane University, one of Dr. Vyas' collaborators, developed in 1980 a four-tier system in the US that goes from online education to highly sophisticated trauma programs for surgeons.

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Dr. Vyas said, "The technology we are using is not available even in most of the centers in the US at this time. We are designing a program that will eventually help even developed nations in building a cost efficient program."

To raise money for the program, Dr. Vyas and his team are making presentations to various foundations and IT companies both in the US and India.

During his visit to India, Dr. Vyas would be visiting Jodhpur, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Manipal, Bangalore, Karimnagar and New Delhi. He would be addressing, among others, the National Police Academy in Hyderabad and the Rajasthan Police Academy and meet officials and fellow professionals to gain support for his mission.

Source-IANS