Indian Society for Trauma and Acute Care: A new beginning

In my 45 years of surgical career, my interest in Trauma care can be traced back to the year 1988 when I was awarded a ‘Commonwealth Medical Fellowship’ by the Commonwealth Commission, United Kingdom (UK), for one year at the Hope Hospital, Salford, University of Manchester, UK. As a Commonwealth Fellow, I was put under Professor Miles Irving. Professor Irving headed a committee set up by the Royal College of England to lead a study on trauma deaths in England and Wales. The report of the committee was published in the British Medical Journal, and it highlighted the deficiency in the care of multiply injured patients. A total of 33% deaths were judged preventable in that study, and those patients could have survived if they had been taken to a specialised trauma care facility in the UK. I was involved in a ‘Major Trauma Outcome’ study during my fellowship at the Hope Hospital.

I learnt the nuances and intricacies of trauma care at the Hope Hospital. Since then, I have been working to develop a trauma system to improve trauma care in India. I got the opportunity for the establishment of a standalone trauma centre in 2006 under the premier medical institute of the country, i.e. the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. Establishment of the Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre (JPNATC) was the result of hard work, dedication and above all, the passion of some young and enthusiastic doctors, nurses and other staff who opted for improving trauma care as their principal career option.

Today, the trauma centre of AIIMS is not only providing state-of-the-art holistic trauma care to multiply-injured persons but also involved in cutting-edge research, teaching, capacity building, advocacy for injury prevention and policy making in the field of injury.

During this journey, we established an academic and scientific body by the name “Indian Society for Trauma & Acute Care (ISTAC®)” in the year 2007 with the active participation of like-minded trauma care providers as well as other health professionals. Our vision was to create awareness about deficiencies in holistic trauma and acute care, injury prevention, and trauma training and education. ISTAC® is a registered society and is constantly growing with a current membership of more than 1100 members (www.traumaindia.org). To achieve its goals, ISTAC® has been organising continuing medical education (CME) sessions, webinars, workshops, and conferences since its inception. We got the opportunity to organise the third ‘World Trauma Congress’ in 2016, which was attended by more than 1800 professionals from 35 countries. ISTAC® is running its flagship program- Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS®) courses under the aegis of ATLS®-India with the help of the Committee on Trauma of the American College of Surgeons (COTACS) since 2009 (www.atlsindia.in).

Trauma is a niche speciality and there are few dedicated journals to cater to the professionals working in the field of trauma care. As an academician and researcher myself, I always felt the need for a dedicated scientific journal of our society for the benefit of doctors, nurses and allied health care professionals involved in trauma and acute care. I am delighted that ISTAC® is starting its official journal by the name of ‘Journal of Injury & Acute Care (JOIAC)’. It is an online, open-access, and peer-reviewed journal which can be accessed at www.joiac-istac.org. The scope of the journal is wide and it includes holistic trauma care, surgical emergency care, surgical critical care, injury prevention, trauma training and education, disaster management, etc. Our partner in this journey is ‘Scientific Scholar’, a well-known name in the field of publishing scientific journals. As the founder president of the society, I wish to make an appeal to one and all to contribute to the journal as authors and reviewers. I am sure that your contribution will help the journal in fulfilling its goals. I am thankful to all the members of the editorial board for sparing their valuable time and agreeing to work for a noble cause. I convey my best wishes to the journal and its editorial board.

Long live ISTAC®!