The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) and Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons (GCPS) are to jointly run a standardized trauma management course to significantly enhance the quality of care and treatment of injured patients.

This would be based on the internationally recognized Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) of the American College of Surgeons (ACS).

In line with this goal a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) had already been signed by KATH and GCPS, on one hand, and the ATLS Board, to train the doctors and nurses.

For a start 16 Ghanaian doctors would undergo training at the ATLS Centre in the United Kingdom (UK), and they would form the nucleus of trainers at the centre to be established at KATH.

Dr. George Oduro, Head of Emergency Medicine at KATH, who signed for Ghana, said the programme would enormously help to save the lives of road crash victims.

Road accidents, from available statistics killed 1, 856 people, last year.

Dr. Oduro said given the frightening figures, which kept increasing by the year, there was an urgent need to take steps to appropriately respond to the trend.

He called for financial support of corporate bodies and individuals to fund the training of more local doctors and nurses.

Dr. Andrew Baker and Professor Inger Schipper, both members of the ATLS Board, signed for their organization, and said doctors would be taught to do the simple safe initial assessment and primary treatment of the injured patient.

The ATLS course is run in over 60 countries around the world as a standardized method of treating and offering specialist care to injured patients.