Health in the news: Some facts on Road Traffic Accidents in Iran

Here are some facts on road traffic accidents (RTI) in Iran appeared in a letter Mr. Ali Zadsar , a Member of the Parliament, wrote to the President titled bitter statistical facts about 330,00 annual road traffic victims in Iran (The shortened version of the letter was brought to public notice by baztab online website):
1-Annual number of road traffic victims is 330,000.
2-Each year, 30,000 death are registered due to RTI.
3-Most accidents take place within 30 kilometers of urban areas.
4-Total length of roads is 180,000 kilometers from which only 31,000 km is either highway or main road(rahe asli in Persian). The remainder are 44,000 km of hazardous side roads (rahe far'ee in Persian) and 100,000 km rural roads.
5-Unexpectedly, the police patrol only 23,000 km(13%) of the entire roads.
6- 90% of travels travel through the ground while rail and air travels comprise 7% and 3% of the grand total respectively.
7-14 million out of 65 million daily travels happen in the capital (Tehran).
8- In Tehran 45% of travelers use public transportation. The remnant use their own private vehicle.
9- With a growth rate of 17%, two million four-wheeler vehicles and motor bikes per year (one million each) are being produced in the country while the growth rate for the road network is only 2%.
10-The government needs 1000 billion Toman (more than a billion dollar) to fix 1500 unsafe points already made known by the experts.
11-20 billion Toman per day (more than 20 million dollars) are spent on RTI.
12-70% of RTI deaths in the country are attributed to violation of the rules by drivers.
13-Nearly all the cars have not equipped with airbag or ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) which are reported as a safe measure to prevent fatal events in RTIs.
Source: www.baztab.ir , Jan 18, 2007, Code: 58295
My comment: I have no insight into the cost of RTI. It sometimes happens that an inadvertently placed extra zero in the reported numbers makes a huge difference. You need to use caution when you want to cite the above mentioned numbers. They may give us a sense of what the problems are but in my opinion the numbers need to be checked over. For example I am not certain about the extent to which the roads are patrolled by the police.

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Health in the news: Therapeutic care for road traffic injuries is completely for free

Dr. Lankarani, the Minister of Health, in a reaction to a Member of Parliament (MP) said that therapeutic healthcare for road traffic injury (RTI) victims is for free in public hospitals. The MP did not convince after listening to the Minister's remarks in regard to healthcare provision for RTI victims.

Source: Baztab,Jan 3, 2006, http://www.baztab.com/ news code: 56945

My comment: I don't know for sure what percent of RTI victims are being transferred to private hospitals but I suspect the majority of cases receive their advanced therapeutic care in public hospitals. Private hospitals are not willing to accept multiple trauma cases; hence, they have not expanded their capacity to admit these patients. All ,for example, know that Sina and Shohadaye Tajrish Hospitals are two hospitals in Tehran with advanced trauma care and their emergency trauma services providing free of charge services for RTI cases happening anywhere in the country.
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Health in the news: Emergency service covers only 9% of road traffic accidents in Iran

"While in developed countries emergency serivices cover more than 80% of road traffic injuries , this figure in Iran is only 9%"Dr. Shahram Alamdary chief of Relief and Rescue Organization (Sazemane emdad va nejat) said. Rec Crescent and Reilief and Rescue Oraganizations are two bodies responsible for providing emergency services with road traffic injury victims.
Source: Jamejanonline, December 31, 2006
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