CHENNAI: In a recent circular, the State Health Department has instructed all the institutions under the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (DPHPM), Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER), Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services (DMRHS) to assess the level of alcohol in the blood of the survivors of road accidents.
Survivors who reach the hospital for first-aid, or when victims are brought dead, will be tested and the results will be noted in relevant records.
This practice would be made mandatory due to an increase in the number of cases where the rider was driving under the influence of alcohol. The move has been brought in compliance with the Madras High Court order on April 26, 2024, that has made testing for Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) mandatory in all road traffic accident cases.
Such a test will be used for legal or medical purposes in all road accident cases. The HC stated that such scientific data and the records in Accident Register copies are relevant and important to conclude whether the person had consumed alcohol. And if consumed, whether the blood alcohol level was within the limits or whether it had exceeded the limits in accordance with the Section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
The TN Accident and Emergency Care Initiative Centre, casualties in GHs, and private hospitals empanelled under the Innuyir Kaappom Nammai Kaakum-48Scheme (iKT-NK48), and other private clinics should also test for alcohol level if an injured patient or deceased (in a road accident) is brought, and smells of alcohol. In government and private hospitals, blood should be drawn and tested in the hospital lab where provision should be made to test the sample.
The data must be entered in the TAEl registry portal where data fields are provided for capturing Blood Alcohol Concentration and Urine Alcohol Concentration, which are already integrated with Integrated Road Accident Data Base application.
The DMRHS has been told to design a format for capturing data and reporting on the BAC test.
It should be done by collecting 5 ml venous blood by using non-alcohol swabs for cleaning the blood collection site. It should be tested at the lab run by the Department of Biochemistry in all the TAEl emergency departments of medical college hospitals by a lab technician.