CHENNAI: On November 19, 1997, a school bus claimed the lives of 29 school children and severely injured 60 others after it skidded and plunged into river Yamuna in the outskirts of New Delhi.
While there was a great uproar and anguish following the incident, a thoughtful initiative to promote awareness and training on life saving sport followed — the Rashtriya Life Saving Society (India) was established by Rear Admiral PD Sharma, who is the RLSS President based in Pune.
The society has trained over two lakh first aiders and lifesavers since 1998 and has recently stepped into roping more women into the intervention act through an All Women Center led by Jayanthi Murugesh, one of the founders of RLSS, Chennai wing. The Center will be first of its kind in India and perhaps in the commonwealth and will provide training to anyone from students to a home maker. “It is necessary for more women to be part of life saving activity and we need more lifeguards and women lifesavers. The best would be to encourage women to save lives,” says Jayanthi Murugesh.
With drowning being one of the most common causes of death, 23% of the global drowning toll occurs in India every year. “We lose close to 1.3 lakh people to drowning in India. Though there are various categories and degrees of life savers and first responders, the number of professional women lifeguards in the country is bleak. It is necessary for them to be a part of it,” opines Sharma.
With Chennai recording over 29 deaths in water bodies this year and with the toll increasing, training lifesavers and exclusive women lifesavers are the need of the hour. Most women hesitate to take up the lifesaving sport citing to societal norms and stigma. “If a man is taught the skills, it’ll remain with him. But if a woman is taught all these lifesaving skills, a whole family will be benefited.
In most cases, it’s the mother who accompanies the child or anyone in the family to different places including the beach or a swimming pool. In case of an emergency, she doesn’t have to wait for any help and can do it by herself!” elucidates Sharma.
RLSS (I) has provided training to over 60,000 children through their drowning prevention initiative — Swim and Survive, achieved state government recognitions for high standards of training and safety and has spread its wings to 19 states. “There is not much data available on extensive drowning in the country.
But, through a study, we found out that it is the third leading cause of unintentional injury-death worldwide and accounts for 7.3% of accidental deaths,” shares Kavita Sahrma, vice president, RLSS(I).
With age, gender, access to water and other risk factors playing a major role in making drowning an epidemic, Kavita adds, “The government needs to focus more on the causes of drowning and needs to spread more awareness.”