Firearm Injuries in the Tribal Area of Pakistan. An Emerging Trend

Abstract

Background: Due to multiple conflicts among the society many countries are facing rise in the firearm causalities. Whether it may be due to unstable government or economic crises it leads to huge financial burden to the country and ultimately to the family. Easy access to firearm weapons is one of the leading cause. Material and Methods: It is a cross sectional descriptive study, conducted in the tribal areas of Pakistan. The study was conducted on intentional firearm injury cases which reported to hospital during the period from January 2010 to December 2010 in District Hospital Timergara after informed consent, history was recorded and examination was done. Study was focused on age, sex, site of injury, parameters causing injury, the person involved in causing this injury and management provided. Results: A total of 200 cases were reported during this study period. The cases included in the study were 150 (75%), of intentional injuries, out of which 143 (95.3%) cases were of homicidal firearm injuries and 7 (4.6%) cases were suicidal in nature. Majority of the cases were reported during the month of May (20.29%) and June (17.48%) and lowest figure was observed in the December (2.14%). Conclusion: Study concludes that not believing in the judicial system of the community added with multiple other factors leads intentional firearm injuries which is a dominant cause of fatal injuries observed in the society. Law should be enforced strictly on the use of illegal firearm weapons, as reported in this study that in majority of the cases weapon used was illegal.