Training women cops to be lifesavers

Timely aid

Twenty-two year old Rashmi is extremely confident that she can help save the life of a road accident victim, if the need arises. “I know I can do it,” she says after undergoing training in life-saving skills organised for women Delhi Police personnel in the capital. She was part of the first batch of 50 trainee women police personnel who were given the training in an attempt to make them effective providers of Basic Trauma Life Support (BTLS).

“As Delhi Police personnel and first medical responders, it is important to know how we can help save a life in the little time we have in case of an untoward incident. It is crucial that the victim is handled with utmost care until an ambulance reaches the spot and he/she is transported to the hospital,” Rashmi, a trainee at the Delhi Police Training School in Dwarka, tells Metrolife.

At part of the programme, close to 200 women personnel will be trained in the coming days.

The training session - ‘Jeevan Rakshak’ - organised by NGO SaveLIFE Foundation (SLF) combines community volunteerism with healthcare, technology and law enforcement to create a network of medical first-responders that attends to injured victims with great alacrity and skill. The programme is supported by global logistics company DHL and leading hospitals of Delhi.

Explaining the training module, Piyush Tewari, founder, SFL says the first such training for the police personnel was conducted in February 2009. He adds that the programme has
been designed by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) along with SFL for providing training in cases of heavy trauma and road accident.

“In the last six years, we have trained close to 6,500 police personnel in Delhi, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. But, this is the first time we trained a dedicated batch of women personnel. The module has a blended learning format where theory is only 20 per cent and the remaining 80 per cent is practical. It covers bleeding control, safe transport to hospital, airway management and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and even special scenarios like bomb blasts and drowning,” he says.

Tewari adds that after the training is imparted a mock drill is conducted using a Police Control Room (PCR) van so that the trainees get to learn in a real scenario.

“This is recorded and later shown to them to tell them where they went wrong and where all they performed well...Such training is absolutely essential for our police personnel as they are the first official agency in case of a trauma and cannot be looking around for help,” he says.

According to the Law Commission of India’s 201streport on emergency medical care to victims of accidents and during emergency medical condition and women under labour, at least 50 per cent of the fatality can be averted if the victims are admitted to a hospital     ­­­ within the first one   hour. The report says that for an accident victim, it is important that he is provided basic first aid which enables him to survive till he reaches the hospital.

Talking about the importance of the training, Suman Nalwa, principal of the training school tells Metrolife that since the women trainees would be posted in the field as constables, it is essential for them to know how to help civilians in case the need arises.
“This training would help them beyond their work, it could also help them assist family, colleague or a friend. I believe that even if they get two to three situations where they can help save a life, it is worth it,” she says.

Batting for its institutionalisation, Tewari and Nalwa say that the training should be a mandatory part of the current education system where students are taught basic skills in life saving.

“Our next step would be to measure the programme where we would ask the Delhi Police to tell us where the training came handy and then we would encourage the personnel by recognising the effort...Our hope is that they go on to save as many lives as possible,” Tewari says.