Sunday, August 31, 2014

Road accidents involving children on the rise



Every alternate day we come across shocking news of young children dying in road accidents. This no doubt raises umpteen number of questions regarding child safety, children suffering due to no fault of their own and what corrective measures to be taken to avoid further such casualties.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau 20 children under the age of 14 years die daily in road accidents in India. The nearly 70 deaths between January 2013 and July 2014 are of school students. In all the instances victims were travelling in their school buses which were either hit by other vehicles or rolled down from the slope.

India has only about one percent of the world's vehicles but accounts for 10 percent of the world's road accidents. These stunning figures definitely highlight how grave the issue of child safety is in India.

According to NGO Save Life Foundation’s Founder & President Mr. Piyush Tewari school buses should come as a part of special vehicle like Ambulance unlike commercial vehicles. As this implies even a truck driver can drive the school bus which reduces the probability of sensitivity towards children riding in the bus.

Currently there are no child safety laws, few measures under the same would mitigate the risk:
-          Seat belts & helmets for child
-          An adult supervisor to be designated in all the buses who would keep a check on errant drivers

-          Drivers should undergo formal training and they would need to renew their licenses every year. These drivers should also be imparted training on First Aid in case of any medical emergency.


Sunday, August 24, 2014

ZHL featured by The Financial Times

The Financial Times popularly known as FT, features ZHL in their Sustainable Healthcare section, the article covers how social healthcare businesses require patience & deep pockets.

This article features many other social enterprises & NGOs along with ZHL who are working to better the current healthcare services in India.

Ms. Sweta Mangal, Co-Founder of ZHL, shares her experiences on how key stakeholders (including drivers) of this venture require consistent motivation to follow through with the vision that has grown into ZHL.

To read more click here http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/5fc81752-e58a-11e3-a7f5-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=uk#axzz39F0ZXjrN