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Trapped
Farmer families in the dry zone face a deadly enemy – the trap gun. Kumudini Hettiarachchi reports
A routine foray into the thickets and scrub jungle around their humble homes looking for lost cattle or to gather firewood could very well end in a blast and death or a life-long disability for villagers in the dry zone.

The oft-ignored and unspoken danger in the lives of these men, women and children is the trap gun set and camouflaged in the jungle with the maru wela (trigger line) hardly visible to the naked eye. But can the authorities ignore this preventable danger any longer?

At least 200 people fall victim to trap guns each year and three of them die of their injuries, data collected from the Anuradhapura General Hospital reveal. Many are disabled for life, becoming a burden to their already impoverished families.

The irony of this life and death issue is that trap guns, though illegal in Sri Lanka, are set in most of the dry zone areas with the problem being rampant in Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Ampara, Hambantota, Badulla, Matara and Kalutara.

"Compare the 200 victims of trap guns admitted on an average every year to the Anuradhapura General Hospital, with only 90 patients brought in with dengue haemorrhagic fever," says Consultant Surgeon Dr. Mahanama Gunasekera, stressing the magnitude of the trap gun problem.

The contrast does not end there. In 2003, not a single patient died of dengue at that hospital and all had 100% recovery, but three of those mortally wounded by trap guns died, says Dr. Gunasekera who served in Anuradhapura for four years until this year and is now attached to the Kalutara General Hospital.

The critical question is: How many may be dying before admission to a hospital? This surgeon who has taken up not only the task of data collection but also speaking out against trap-gun deaths, amputations and disability cites the tragic case of a nine-year-old schoolchild who was brought in, paralysed from neck down but fully conscious after the shots had gone through his neck. "All our efforts to save him were futile and he died three days later," says Dr. Gunasekera, explaining that his research indicates that the child was an exception, with men in the prime of life being the majority of victims.

His findings are:

Around 76.6% of those with trap gun injuries brought to the Anuradhapura Hospital are farmers.
95% are men and the balance 5% women
Two-thirds or 62.3% are in their prime, between 20-40 years of age.
Around 5% (10 people) had to undergo amputations
Another 10% had to have a major vascular repair.

"To do a successful vascular repair, the patient has to reach the hospital within six hours of suffering the injury," explains Dr. Gunasekera, adding, "Fortunately, a vast majority do reach on time but 20% can't come within this 'golden period' and run the risk of losing their legs. A vascular repair is a very costly operation, with around Rs. 50,000 needed to manage the patient in the first three days alone."

This is an operation done to repair the artery and in some instances also the vein bringing and taking blood from a limb.

About 64.9% of the trap gun victims have fractures of bones in the lower limbs because of joint damage and even if the vascular repair is successful, disability continues with major lower limb damage, he says. "The average hospital stay is 10 days. But for some, nearly 5% of patients, it is more than three months. The compound (open) fractures they suffer are invariably contaminated and infected and take three months to close even with antibiotic treatment and more than two years to heal. Some never heal and the limbs have to be amputated later."

For the family with a trap gun victim the bad news does not end. As it is usually the breadwinner who is disabled the whole family suffers, with the wife having to shoulder the responsibility of making ends meet while also looking after the needs of the injured.

Lamenting the lack of records on this problem, Dr. Gunasekera talks of the unending cycle of hardship faced by the villagers of the dry zone. "They face natural disasters like floods and drought and illnesses and epidemics such as malaria, dengue and encephalitis from time to time. They also face many occupational hazards because they use primitive techniques or modern techniques with limited knowledge and protection methods.

Then they face threats from wild animals such as elephant, bear and leopard." The health facilities are few and far between. Some of these dangers are not preventable but man-made dangers from the trap gun should be curbed and eliminated," stresses Dr. Gunasekera, adding that farmer families have been ruined and it is a major burden on the heavily taxed government health service.

Urging the prevention of this human suffering with the enforcement of the law, he holds town dwellers as being indirectly responsible for this state of affairs. "All those who go on pilgrimages, business or on holiday to the outstations and look for wild boar and venison are responsible. The beneficiaries are the affluent, the sufferers are the poor and the law is silent," he says.

This surgeon who has grappled with this issue for four years in Anuradhapura suggests that the public should be dissuaded from seeking these meats that in turn leads to the setting of trap guns. Schoolchildren should also be made aware of the suffering created in this way due to the process of selling, buying and eating flesh killed in such a manner.

"Strong punitive measures should be put into effect and enforced and hospitals in the dry zone must be provided facilities to manage those who come in with trap gun injuries, he says. Most of all, the need of the hour is for the Department of Social Services to have a scheme to assist trap gun victims and support their families through this lifelong ordeal, he adds.

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