J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

A BSF jawan guards the fence along the Indo-Pak border in Akhnoor sector on Friday. — PTI photo Video (28k, 56k)

Experts stress on effective trauma management
Jammu, November 2
Effective trauma management for reducing the rate of mortality and morbidity was the focus of the three-day annual conference organised by the International Trauma Anaesthesia and Critical Care Society which started here today. Specialists in medicine, surgery, anaesthesia, psychiatry and neurosurgery are participating in the conference.

Pak army build-up fails to stall fencing work
M. L. Kak
Tribune News Service

Jammu, November 2
Even in the face of deployment of Pakistani army personnel, along with the Rangers, across the international border (IB) from Akhnoor to Kathua, the BSF is determined to continue the project of fencing the IB and installing floodlights.

Within a day, the BSF installed floodlights on a 1-km stretch of the border in the Kanachak area near here. However, the pace on the fencing project has been slowed down because of heavy but intermittent firing by Pakistani soldiers. The project was resumed on January 14 this year and so far 16 km of the 187-km long IB has been fenced.

According to the BSF authorities fencing of a 1-km stretch costs Rs 21 lakh and the government has earmarked Rs 22 crore in the first phase. They said if funds were available and the Pakistani troops did not create difficulties “we will be able to complete the fencing and the installation of floodlights by 2002.”

The authorities made it clear that fencing and floodlights had become imparative in view of the Pakistan concentration on the IB for infiltration and smuggling of arms, ammunition and narcotics.

They said Pakistan had violated the norms by deploying regular troops, along with the Rangers, across the IB. “We are on the alert and ready to meet any challenge,” a senior BSF officer said.

He said initially some Pakistani troops had been deployed across the IB for surveillance but of late they had become part of the Rangers.

Meanwhile, reports from Poonch and Rajouri reveal that the heavy military build-up across the border is part of the plan to push into Jammu sector large groups of militants from different spots.

Official sources said during the past three days large groups of militants infiltrated into Poonch and Rajouri sectors. According to eyewitness accounts, groups of militants, equipped with guns and sacks of ammunition, were seen moving from the border belts of Poonch and Rajouri to the mountain forest belts connecting Reasi, Kalakot and Sunderbani.

In a joint operation, four militants were killed in the Kala Band area of Mandi in Poonch district today. The police arrested 15 Kashmiri youths who were trying to cross into Pakistan from Poonch sector.

They were unarmed and hailed from south Kashmir areas and had been recruited by rebel leaders for arms training across the border.

The sources said though the rate of eliminations of militants was highest in Poonch district, the rise in the rate of infiltration had created fresh panic among the people in Poonch and Rajouri.

The sources said egress of militants was minimal and ingress was on the high side indicating that Pakistan wanted to flood the state with “jehadis for more violence.

Experts stress on effective trauma management
Tribune News Service

Jammu, November 2
Effective trauma management for reducing the rate of mortality and morbidity was the focus of the three-day annual conference organised by the International Trauma Anaesthesia and Critical Care Society (ITACCS) which started here today. Specialists in medicine, surgery, anaesthesia, psychiatry and neurosurgery are participating in the conference.

Inaugurating the conference, Lt Gen J.B.S. Yadava, Corps Commander, 16 Corps, said that trauma care needed coordinated efforts of medical professionals, administrators and policy planners. He said that trauma was the primary cause of death and disability among the youth and required expensive treatment and rehabilitation procedure which a developing country cannot afford.

The continuous low intensity war going on in various parts of the country has resulted in the Armed Forces Medical Services developing a basic infrastructure for trauma management due to which mortality and morbidity rate of the injured had come down significantly, said Gen Yadav.

Brigadier Yudhvir Suri, President, ITACCS, said that if trauma cases received resuscitation prior to their admission in hospitals the mortality rate could be further reduced. Pre-hospital medical attention in the war zone included speedy evacuation and life or limb saving surgery in the field hospitals, he said.

Dr H.L. Goswami, Principal of the Government Medical College, said that trauma cases were on a rise and the policy planners should revise their plan on health services by allocating adequate funds for trauma management. Hospitals usually have more than 60 per cent trauma cases in their emergency wards, which shows that trauma management should be one of the top priorities of the Government, he said.

The ITACCS also announced that it would organise regular training programmes in trauma management for medical officers, paramedical staff and other volunteers. Experts said that trauma injuries had become the second largest cause of death in the world and such cases required to be handled not only by the surgeons but specialists from various fields.