Consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Bustamante Hospital for Children, Dr. M.D. Sawh, has said that the high incidence of road accidents is placing a tremendous financial burden on the victims and the health care system, with costs estimated in the billions.

"The costs are tremendous. Hospital costs, direct costs are around $250 million. If you look at the total costs in terms of loss of earnings, cost of physiotherapy, and cost of psychological care, the actual cost is closer to $2 billion," he stated.

The orthopeadic surgeon was speaking at the launch of the Road Safety Unit's Defensive Driving Media and Public Education Campaign at the Hilton Kingston hotel recently.

Citing the Ministry of Health's road traffic statistics for 2005, Dr. Sawh said that 13,000 traffic accident-related injuries were recorded for the year, which breaks down to five hospital admissions per day.

Noting that children are also victims, he said that at the 250-bed Bustamante hospital for Children, "we're going to admit 15,000 children this year."

"Of these 15,000 admissions, 3,500 will be surgical operations, of which about 1,000 will be emergency operations....this needs to stop," the surgeon lamented.