Huraa Maldives; Safe Picnics

What ever has happened is ‘taqdeer’ of Allah. It is not for us to say if this happened that could have been done. It is the learning point for the future. To get things done, “Unintentional injuries” is a better term than accidents and it looks can be prevented. Drowning is common in Maldives though there is no persistent programme from what is been learnt. Surprisingly many do not know how to swim. Unfortunately majority do not like safety measures (who wants a life jacket on Maldivian beach?) and most of children on the beach are unattended by adults. That’s culture. It is difficult to change culture of elder people. Let’s start modifying the attitudes and behaviour of young generation. These change with knowledge and skills. Do we have social psychologists or shall we call India for help? Mobile phones (now I-PADS) and cigarettes have shown to take the attention away from the children, of course the mobile is required to call in emergency situation. Study shows if bystanders resuscitate victims before been transported to hospital, majority will survive; majority of bystanders will try to rescue victims in spite of dangerous situation like deep water or waves, how ever many bystanders are reluctant to give mouth to mouth resuscitation for unknown person. Implementation of a preventable programme is difficult if we try to address it to a complex model. Addressing the secondary prevention of only school children is not enough. How about aftermaths and safety of adults? Drowning of a school children always take attention of government. When my senior in ‘SEC’ drowned the X-president launched “Every child swims” programme. This time is same I guess. Minister reroute the trip and president asked for contact numbers. Funding is a key factor for such programmes. Another way to do this is to do a cross over study for data of drowning victims. Can we shake the coin box with data without going on strikes? How much money can be pumped depends on how much pain it caused to the parliament and president. Educate the population and school children how to do CPR. To get maximum public this can be done on TV, after a Friday prayer or replace “Muzahara” with such events. May be if “bondi bai” is the offer, people may attend. New dramas on TV can have an episode of drowning and well done CPR.