The International Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology recently announced its support of a resolution on universal access to emergency and essential surgical care.
The Immediate Past President of International Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (SICOT), Maurice Hinsenkamp, MD, PhD,stated in a press release the organization strongly supports the inclusion of surgical care, including orthopedics, in universal health coverage and should be integrated into the national health plan of every country.
“SICOT strongly supports the work of the World Health Organization’s Emergency and Essential Surgical Care Program, in the service delivery and safety department, and believes that strengthening the delivery of surgical services, particularly at the district hospital level, is a cost-effective means to reduce the burden of surgical disease. The main reason for this support is that orthopedic trauma is presently significantly under-evaluated as a socioeconomic cause of burden for the nations,” he stated in the release. 
Hinsenkamp highlighted WHO data that noted road trauma as the third highest socioeconomic case of burden and information from the National Trauma Databank that noted motor vehicle-related injuries accounted for 27% of trauma in the United States and falls represented 40%.
He also underscored predictions that the incidence of hip fractures will double over the following decades in North America and increase up to six-fold in Asia due to an aging population.
Hinsenkamp added, “A reduction of the gap in access to safe and timely orthopedical surgical services will have a tremendous effect in decreasing the burden for the society and the personal handicap and morbidity for the individual.”