India stands first in the list of selfie-related deaths with 79 lives having been lost so far, said Dr Jeedhu Radhakrishnan, emergency medicine specialist at KMC Mangaluru.
He spoke at a conference on ‘Pre-hospital Care and Medical Emergencies’ organised by the Savior campaign with the district administration at the Town Hall on Sunday.
“The American Psychiatric Association has called the addiction to selfies as ‘selfitis’, a mental disorder which could be of mild to chronic in nature,” he said.
2nd highest deaths
“In the entire world, selfie-related deaths stand next to deaths in air crashes. On an average, 50 people die trying to take selfies at dangerous locations. In 2015 alone, there were 50 such deaths, which was next to 513 deaths, caused due to air crashes,” he explained.
Dr Jeedhu expressed concern that during accidents, people click selfies rather than helping the victims. Some even harm themselves, he said, adding, “Cognitive behavioural therapy is the known possible treatment for ‘selfitis’.”
Dr Ramakrishna Rao, DHO, lauded the initiative by the Savior campaign at organising workshops on life-saving techniques to non-professionals. Community participation during the golden hours is vital for prevention of delayed intervention, he pointed out.
Mobile app
Codecraft Technologies CEO Dikshith Rai said that the Savior mobile application, designed by Codecraft, enables people to book and track ambulances, choose hospitals, request or donate blood and become the first responder.
Under the campaign initiated by Rai and Dr Maneesh Rai of KMC, 200 people including teachers, home guards, traffic police, fire personnel, Asha workers and PHC doctors will be trained in managing emergency life support and trauma and then educate others on the same. The Savior team has trained over 100 first responders including security guards, ex-servicemen, bank employees, NSS members and home makers.
Dr Vimal Krishnan, principal secretary of the Emergency Medicine Association (EMA) India, felt a need for a higher GDP growth in the health sector – currently 1.21-3%. Effective policies and embracing technology are the ways to improve healthcare in India, he added.
Methods to handle
Animesh Jain, head of the Community Medicine Department, KMC Mangaluru, spoke on the methods to handle disasters. He said that discussing a disaster management plan is important to keep emergency contact numbers ready, to create disaster management awareness among children, to learn how to handle medical emergency and to digitize important documents.
District Legal Services Authority Member Secretary Mallanagowda B Patil was the guest on the occasion.
Dr Padmanabha Kamath, Dr Unnikrishnan and KSHEMA Professor Dr Ravindra were present.