Management of toxicological emergencies at different health care levels: A comparative study.

ABSTRACT

The proliferation of numerous poisonous substances due to rapid development in science and technology, coupled with the vast growth in industrial and agricultural sectors has substantially increased the incidence of poisoning in recent times. Today, a number of chemical substances, which were originally developed to protect agricultural products from rodents and pests, are at the forefront of suicidal ingestions. The aim of this retrospective comparative study is to analyze the characteristics of toxicological emergencies reporting at three different levels of health care centers-primary, secondary and tertiary - in order to find out the problems faced at each level with reference to their management, and to highlight the need to redress such problems to reduce the ever-increasing deaths due to poisoning.