Medi-snippets: Suvaseriya helped deliver 81 babies in three years | Sunday Observer

Medi-snippets: Suvaseriya helped deliver 81 babies in three years

26 May, 2019

The Suvaseriya Ambulance Service ( 1990 ) reportedly saved 20,000 patients and assisted delivery of 81 babies in the past three years, Economic Reforms and Public Distribution Minister and Founder of Suvaseriya Dr Harsha De Silva was quoted as saying at a media conference at the Suvaseriya Headquarters recently. He was quoted as saying that during the past three years, 1,600 youth had received jobs in the service with 258 ambulances currently available in eight provinces, adding that it took just eight minutes to reach a patient in the crowded Western Province. He reportedly said that special centres would be set up to park 300 ambulances and that 200 centres would be set up by August and September this year.

STF paramedic training proved crucial after terror attacks

The Special Task Force( STF) batch which completed the Paramedic course 2019 conducted at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL) were able to use their training to assist victims of the April 21 terror attacks, Health Services Director General Dr Anil Jasinghe reportedly said.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the four month course at the NHSL, he reportedly said that while the NHSL had trained around 50,000 health assistants, the training for the STF was special as the STF are the first respondents to any disaster, are young and can serve the country for a long period of time.

STF Senior DIG M.R.Latiff was also quoted as saying that from November 1986 to date 349 troops from the STF had been given paramedic training and at present there were 197 in the service.

NHS Deputy Director General K.Wickramasinghe was also quoted as saying that when an accident occurs , the victim is often transferred to a three wheeler by untrained people which can be fatal adding that very few are able to give the victims artificial respiration. Accident Service Training Coordinator Pushpa Ramya De Zoyza, also present on the occasion, reportedly said the first ten minutes after an accident was crucial when it came to saving the life of a victim.

Ethical reporting responsibility of media

Clinical Psychiarist Dr Kanthi Hettigoda was quoted as saying that suicide bombers should not be labelled as ‘smart’ as it may influence others with such ideas. She was speaking at a workshop organised by the Presidential Secretariat on helping those traumatised by the Easter Sunday attack, to recover mentally.

Special attention was drawn to the responsibility of the media when reporting such news in order to minimise victims’ stress. Dr Hettigoda reportedly said that brain washing a person to become a suicide bomber was a long process adding that an individual becoming a suicide bomber was the result of a mental disorder.

She noted that the media bore the responsibility of ethical reporting so as to help rebuild the mindset of the affected persons, adding that the term ‘áffected persons’ was not limited to those who directly faced the incident, but anyone who had witnessed the aftermath of the crime on social media.

FAO chief warns globalisation of obesity

The international community needs to introduce regulations and standards that transform food systems so that they provide in a sustainable way, healthy and nutritious food for everyone, Food & Agricultural Organisation Director General Jose Graziano da Silva was quoted as saying recently.

Addressing a meeting of Ministers of Agriculture on the G20 in Niigata, Japan, he noted that while hunger was the worst type of malnutrition that should be addressed, other forms of malnutrition such as obesity was also causing increasing health problems, with over two billion persons being overweight globally. Obesity was a condition strongly associated with higher risks like diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and some forms of cancer, he reportedly said.

Grieving for a friend can have a long term effect on health

The death of a close friend or loved one can cause a major decline in physical and mental health that can last up to four years, a study by researchers from the University of Stirling and Australian National University has found. Researchers reportedly said that the death of a close friend was considered lower on the grief hierarchy compared with the death of a spouse or family member, and as such received less attention by family doctors and employers.

But their findings show that the death of a close friend has similar effects and the effect hit women harder than men. Commenting on this a member of the team was cited as saying that there was a need to ensure services are available to assist people who have experienced the death of a close friend considering the pronounced decline in the health and well being of persons who had a friend die in the past four years.

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