New Delhi to Host Conference on Accident & Emergency Medical Treatment

New York. A three day conference on Accident and Emergency Medicine is being held in Delhi later this year with the help of Association of Indian-American and US doctors. The objective of this conference is to impress upon the government and medical institutions the need for specialty faculties for emergency medicine and disaster preparedness.

At a function held in the Indian Consulate here Wednesday to launch preparation for the Second International Emergency Medicine and Disaster Preparedness Conference, several Indian-American doctors expressed dismay at the "failure" of the Indian government and medical institutions to recognize the importance of emergency medicines.

Their first conference in Hyderabad, they said, failed to arouse interest in what is now the most important branch of medicine in saving lives in the first hours of any emergency.

The New Delhi meet will comprise a series of lectures, workshops and seminars on various aspects of emergency medicine including training needs and evolving a standardized system for hospitals and clinics which treat emergencies.

Welcoming the doctors, Consul General Neelam Deo described their effort as a part of wider Indo-US cooperation and commended the role of the Indian-American doctors who, she said, are among the highly successful professionals.

Winding up the discussions, Deputy Consul General A. R.Ghanshyam commended the initiative taken by the doctors, noting that more than one hundred had come from across the United States to attend the preparatory meeting.

Academic co-chair Kumar Alagappan told PTI the first hour of emergency, called 'golden hour', is very crucial for the patient and makes all the difference between life and death.

The job of an emergency specialist is to recognize the needs of the patient whether he has suffered trauma or some serious ailment, evaluate his condition and decide on the line of treatment including whether the person needs to be referred to any specialty department, he said.

His work, he added, cuts across all departments and in the United States and other developed countries, emergency medicine is a specialty in itself to which doctors devote their lives and most importantly, they are able to save innumerable lives.

Some 2000 delegates from across the world are expected to attend the New Delhi meet and the organizers expect doctors from neighboring counties, including Pakistan and Sri Lanka, to participate.

The sponsors include American College of Emergency Physicians, American Academy for Emergency Medicine in India, Society of Emergency Medicine in India, North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System, among others.