Around 50,000 accidents occur each year and 2,000 are fatal.

The Sri Lanka Red Cross, The World Health Organisation and the Health Ministry’s Trauma Secretariat will train 6,500 persons across the country on first aid procedures, the Health Ministry said.

Secretary to the Health Ministry, Dr. Athula Kahadaliyanage told ‘The Island’ that the accident rate in Sri Lanka had reached an alarming proportion in fairly recent times and a national first aid training programme was extremely necessary.

Dr. Kahadaliyanage said that around 200 three wheeler drivers and 50 police personnel per district would be trained in first aid procedures to deal with accident situations. It was found that 60 per cent of the accident victims were brought to hospitals by three wheeler drivers. The training in first aid procedures for three wheeler drivers was essential because whenever an accident occurred, the first person to reach the accident site was a three wheeler driver.