Byron McDaniel, Gleaner Writer
WALDERSTON
THE MEDICAL team of the Percy Junor Hospital in Manchester has responded to the large number of trauma cases involving students which are seen in their casualty department, with a programme for the prevention of violence in schools.
The project, conceived by Dr. Ghazzali Ahmad, was launched in collaboration with the Southern Health Authority Manchester Parish Office, schools and the police at the Sacred Heart Academy in Christiana on Tuesday, March 7.
REASON FOR RESPONSE
"This project came about because of the high number of trauma cases that we were seeing at our hospital, these were not the regular injuries associated with playground activities but potentially life threatening stab wounds with knives and scissors." Dr. Ghazzali said.
He said they decided to do some aggressive intervention. "This is the first time that the medical team has become directly involved in trying to manage health care and we are looking not only to see the victims but the offenders and provide the psychological and social counselling that is necessary to help tackle this problem." He said that since his arrival at the hospital in April last year, 15 such cases were serious and life threatening while over 70 others were also treated.
Dr. Michael Coombs, the regional technical director of the Southern Region, guest speaker at the launch said it was well established that violence-related injuries have become a major burden on health-care services with an estimated cost of over $700 million dollars per annum in indirect cost and over $2 billion dollars in additional direct cost.
