Times of India
27 April 2010
New Delhi, India
In a bid to make sure incidents that led to the death of Shanno and Akriti are not repeated, Delhi Commission For Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) has come out with guidelines, telling schools how to deal with medical emergencies.

As chief minister Sheila Dikshit released report on “psycho-physical requirement and medical crisis management mechanism in schools” along with “guidelines for medical crisis management in schools”, officials said that DCPCR guidelines are aimed at preventing death of children in schools. The report has been prepared by a 15–member committee formed by DCPCR.

The report deals with the wide spectrum of medical emergencies and suggests measures to deal with them in a school. The report details first-aid measures to be undertaken in case of asthma attack and breathing difficulty – it reportedly claimed life of Akriti Bhatia, a student of Modern School, Vasant Vihar last year – bleeding, choking, burns, drowning, ear and tooth injuries, fractures etc.

The report asks schools to make necessary arrangements to deal with medical emergencies. These include constitution of an emergency response team, either a fulltime doctor or a doctor on call for the school hours, inclusion of safety and accident prevention in regular curriculum, a dispensary on the ground floor of the school building, training of staff and senior students in cardio pulmonary resuscitation and a database of students and their ailments.

“Every school should carry out risk assessment through the ERT for formulation of emergency plan. This evaluation should be a continuous process and at least once a year a copy of the evaluation report should be sent to DCPCR,” notes the report.

WHAT IS NEEDED Schools should have Full–time doctor or a doctor on call for school hours Dispensary on ground floor Emergency response team

Database of students suffering from life–threatening conditions or have special needs Basic first-aid provisions

Emergency plan School bus should have First–aid box Drivers, conductors trained in CPR Responsibilities of parents

Participate in health related programmes and activities Check unhealthy habits of their kids

Know about common childhood emergencies and first–aid approach Inform the school about any chronic ailments or unexpected developments in health of a child Equip the child with essential medical device like inhalers etc