Tuk-tuk drivers turn life-savers

Knotting bandages, carefully lifting an injured person and applying pressure to a bleeding wound are not usually all in a day’s work for tuk-tuk drivers.

But a pre-hospital care training programme will make thousands of scooter taxi drivers throughout Sri Lanka proficient in first-aid procedures that could help save lives and prevent disabilities, according to health professionals.

Usually blamed for causing road accidents, the three-wheeler drivers are being taught the basics of first aid, including managing bleeding, burns and fractures, checking airways for obstructions and deciding when to use the wheelbarrow lift or the fireman’s lift.

“Three-wheeler drivers are usually the first to arrive at the scene of a road accident,” said Adrian Mutupulle of the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS), pointing out that tuk-tuks are a popular and quick way to get about. “We are training them to be first responders when they get there.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) and an NGO, Medical Teams International, are funding the project, which is seen as a significant step towards improving the first response system on the island where only the capital, Colombo, can boast a fully-fledged ambulance service. The training, targeting some 4,500 three-wheeler drivers, 1,300 traffic police officers and about 1,000 civilians, was planned around World First Aid Day on 13 September and is the first step in a continuing programme.

“Road accidents are one of the leading causes of death here,” said Lanka Dissanayake, WHO’s national consultant in charge of non-communicable diseases. “We want to assist the Ministry of Health to train the first responders to meet an emergency situation without causing any more trauma for the victims.”

Photo: Christine Jayasinghe/IRIN

Tuk-tuk drivers learn the correct way of lifting an injured person. Road accidents are one of the leading causes of death in Sri Lanka and training for first responders is being stepped up to help prevent death and permanent disability for victims

Many accident victims are transported to hospital in scooter taxis, often increasing the risk of aggravating injuries. “Cervical and spinal injuries are the main cause of permanent disability and can be made worse during transportation,” said Dissanayake. “With proper lifting techniques, this can easily be avoided. Lives can also be saved by keeping the airways of the injured person open. Even removing helmets has to be done carefully.”

At a training session organised by the SLRCS, first-aid instructor Thilak Kumara asked drivers from Negombo in the western Gampaha District how a broken leg could be stabilised before the patient was carried.

Participants eagerly offered suggestions such as using a plank or a broomstick. But Kumara showed them instead how to use the patient’s uninjured leg as a splint and demonstrated the correct way of binding the two limbs together with bandages.

“I have taken patients in my vehicle before, but this is the first time I saw how it should be done correctly,” said Gerard Priyantha, one of the participants.

Nishantha Silva, another driver, recounted how he had recently helped a person who was knocked down by a motorcycle and taken him to hospital. “His leg was bleeding profusely and I held it tightly hoping it would stop.” At the training session he learnt that he could have more effectively staunched the bleeding by applying pressure farther up the thigh.

Photo: Christine Jayasinghe/IRIN

A tuk-tuk driver practices tying a splint on someone's leg. Health professionals hope training taxi drivers will prevent injuries caused to accident victims while being transported to hospital

Dissanayake said tuk-tuk drivers could not be discouraged from ferrying injured people to hospitals “because very often there is no other alternative”.

“This training should be given to more people, not only to three-wheeler drivers,” said W. Jayatilleke, who pointed out that when he rushed an accident victim to hospital, he lost out on other hires and it meant the loss of a day’s work if he had to give evidence about the accident later on.

He has felt the brunt of relatives’ ire who sometimes blamed the taxi drivers for making the patient’s condition worse after a ride in the cramped three-wheeler. “At least now we can confidently tell them that we know something of how to care for accident victims.”

The trainees were given certificates, a first aid kit, first-aid brochures to distribute and a sticker saying, “I have been trained in First Aid” to display on their vehicles.

The SLRCS hopes to have a refresher course to evaluate the trainees’ performance after six months, while the WHO is considering linking up with other UN agencies to extend the programme to cover a larger target group.

cj/bj/mw