MP Karki urges immediate National Trauma Policy to curb road deaths
MP Karki stressed that the growing number of fatalities from road crashes has become a silent public health crisis that must be addressed without delay.
KATHMANDU: Toshima Karki, a lawmaker from the ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), has called on the government to urgently formulate and implement a National Trauma Policy, warning that rising road accident deaths demand immediate state action.
Speaking during a special session of the House of Representatives on Thursday, MP Karki stressed that the growing number of fatalities from road crashes has become a silent public health crisis that must be addressed without delay.
She argued that while the state collects taxes and builds roads, it has failed to ensure basic safety for citizens using them.
According to her, this failure is not only administrative but also a moral and policy-level defeat of the government.
“The state collects taxes and builds roads. But if it cannot save its citizens from dying on those roads, that is not just an administrative failure—it is a moral and policy defeat,” she said in Parliament.
Karki further highlighted that citizens expect meaningful action from the current government, not delays or excuses. She warned that repeatedly shelving policies and directives is no longer acceptable.
Drawing a comparison with public health measures, she said that just as vaccination campaigns protected people during COVID-19, the government must now introduce what she described as a “policy vaccine” to prevent the daily rise in road accident deaths.
“If we can start working on a National Trauma Policy today, we can save countless lives and prevent future large-scale tragedies,” she added.
