35pc drivers have high blood pressure, diabetes

Road safety continues to be a pressing issue in the country due to the poor state of drivers' health, with recent health camp data revealing that the majority of them have visual impairment, diabetes, and hypertension.

Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) collected the health data of around 936 drivers, who attended its free health camps in the capital's five spots, in July this year.

The data shows 79 per cent of the drivers had high blood pressure and 62 per cent had higher glucose levels.

It shows 65 per cent of them had high blood pressure of stage 1 and 2, while 27 per cent had high blood pressure.

Besides, 35 per cent of the drivers had both high blood pressure and diabetes, while 34 per cent had a smoking habit.

Though the number of drivers in the dataset is meagre compared to that of heavy, medium, and light vehicles in the country, analysts say the findings reveal the vulnerable state of road transport due to letting drivers work despite health issues and not ensuring standard health services for them.

The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) puts the total number of licensed drivers at nearly 4.0 million, but it is assumed that only 50 per cent of them are professional.

DTCA Executive Director Neelima Akhter says the DTCA health camp findings will be shared with the government's pertinent agencies, including the BRTA, so that they can take necessary measures in this regard.

She says arranging free health camps regularly and making it mandatory for drivers to submit health reports while renewing their licences are among the steps that need to be taken to make roads safe.

The DTCA organised its first-ever free health camps for bus and truck drivers to provide health support to them.

The camps were held at the Gabtoli, Mohakhali, and Tejgaon bus terminals; Tejgaon truck terminal; and the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) Training Centre at Tejgaon from July 29 to 31.

Dhaka Ahsania Mission conducted the health services, while Bangladesh Medical Students Society collected the drivers' personal health information.

VisionSpring, Dristy Unnayan Sangstha, and Al-Noor Eye Hospital conducted the eye tests.

The 936 drivers attending the health camps had licences to drive heavy, medium, and light vehicles.

Of them, 639 (68 per cent) were professional drivers, and the rest were helpers, conductors, and staff members.

The DTCA report says 338 drivers (53 per cent) had licences for heavy vehicles and 169 (26 per cent) had light-vehicle licences.

It also says 60 per cent of the drivers were between 31 and 50 years of age, 29 per cent were above 50, and 12 per cent were between 18 and 30.

Moreover, 75 per cent of the drivers taking the eye tests came to know of their vision problems for the first time.

Some 392 transport workers were found to have short-sightedness, and 292 had farsightedness.

Drivers are mainly blamed for the poor road safety records in the country.

smunima@yahoo.com