Lebanese health minister: “60% of cars are not insured”

BEIRUT: The Health and Interior ministries Wednesday launched a training program to prevent accidents on Lebanon’s roads, which saw 195 deaths and more than 2,000 injuries in the first five months of 2019. The “Stop the Bleed” program, established in coordination with the Roads for Life NGO, aims to limit rising numbers of traffic accident victims in Lebanon. The training will last around 50 minutes and is available upon request for any public or private institutions and members of the public.

“It is easy to apply and doesn’t need medical expertise, yet it will save many lives and put an end to tragedy,” a joint statement from the ministries read.

The training focuses, as the name suggests, on preventing victims from dying of blood loss before an ambulance arrives. It sets out three first steps to be taken in the case of an accident: applying pressure; wrapping the wound; and fixing “tourniquets,” devices that apply pressure and limit blood flow.

Roads for Life was founded in 2011 in memory of 17-year-old Talal Kassem, who was killed by a car while crossing the road on his way to school. Its stated aim is to increase victims’ chances of survival by providing training on the best post-trauma care techniques, with a special focus on the first hour after an accident, known as “The Golden Hour of Trauma.”

According to the NGO’s website, swift intervention by emergency teams on the scene can reduce unnecessary deaths by up to 40 percent.

At the launch of the training Wednesday, attended by MP Fadi Alameh, former Minister Yaacoub Sarraf, Baalbeck-Hermel Gov. Bashir Khodr and representative of medical and security services, Health Minister Jamil Jabak recalled his experience as a medical professional to highlight the importance of effective immediate accident response. Mr. Jabak also said that more that more than 60% of vehicles are not insured (compulsory insurance), so they represent a high cost for the ministry of health.

“As a doctor, it is very easy to save an injured person if the efforts to prevent bleeding take place as soon as possible,” he said.

Interior Minister Raya El Hassan, who also attended the launch event, described the program as a great achievement allowing the general public to pursue training courses on first aid techniques so that “anyone can be a savior.”

Nevertheless, she stressed that reducing accidents was not possible without the implementation of the Road Safety Law, Law 243, which was passed in 2012.

Efforts to bring the law into practice have stepped up in recent months, with the National Road Safety Council, headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, meeting to discuss the next steps to its implementation.

However, the council’s secretary Ramzi Salameh previously told The Daily Star that the law would require the preparation of hundreds of pages of text to be implemented, though he said he hoped there would be some tangible progress by the end of 2019.

Source: The Daily Star