Abstract
Background: Crime on gunpoint has increased in metropolis of Karachi in last many years with increasing
mortality & morbidity so what could be done to minimize it and how we can proceed further to make Karachi a peaceful city. The objective of this study is to evaluate whether more firearm laws & associated firm
restrictions over the availability of fire arm weapons is required to minimize fire arm fatalities
Methods: It is a cross sectional descriptive study for retrospective analysis of all firearm related deaths and
injuries, reported to authorized medico –legal sections of Karachi ,located in Civil hospital , Abbasi Shaheed
& Jinnah Post Graduate Medical center . The study period is 8 years, extending from 1st January 2007 to 31st
December 2014.All medico legal cases & postmortems due to firearm weapons reported and / or sent by
police are examined & autopsies done in authorized medico legal sections are included in this study. All
cases referred for treatment purposes from outside Karachi are excluded.
Results: Total 208241 medico legal cases referred during study period out of which 14.03% (n=27638) cases
were identified as firearm weapons injuries. Maximum cases of firearm were reported in Abbasi Shaheed
Hospital 37.9% (n= 10478) while minimum cases 29.3% (n=8107) in Civil Hospital Karachi. Postmortems
conducted on fire arm weapons deaths were 37.7% (n=4246) in Abbasi Shaheed Hospital Karachi. Male
dominated with 91.74% (n=10325) of post mortems over female with 8.26% (n=928) only.
Conclusion: The study concluded that homicidal firearm injuries contributed as one of the major cause of
death. The age group of 21-25 years was most affected. The most commonly targeted body part was chest
& abdomen .The use of fire arm weapons & resultant mortality is increasing day by day. The easy availability
of weapons, unemployment, poor socio-economical conditions & the use of youth by Political parties &
other criminal groups, for their perverted purposes are main factors behind increased homicidal killings. All
these issues are required to be addressed seriously.
Farhat Hussain Mirza, Ishtiaque Ali Langah, Qudsia Hasan. (2017) Fire Arm Weapon Injuries In Karachi In Relation To Mortality & Morbidity An 8-years Study From 2007 – 2014., The Pakistan Journal of Medicine and Dentistry, Volume-6, Issue-1.
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