ABSTRACT Introduction: The surgical site infection is defined as the occurrence of infection to the surgical site within 30 days of surgery if no prosthesis is placed and up to 12months if a prosthetic is implanted in the patients. The commonest risk factors of surgical site infection are, degree of contamination, patient’s own normal flora, organisms present in the hospital environment, preoperative preparation of surgical site, comorbidities etc. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the role of subcutaneous suction drain in reducing surgical site infections in emergency laparotomies. Material and Methods: This prospective comparative study was conductedin Department of Surgery, GMC, Jammu over the period of 6 months and categorized a total of 100 patients in two groups, i.e. Group -A and Group- B. Group – A consist of 50 patients who had subcutaneous suction drain and Group-B consist of 50 patients, who didn’t receive subcutaneous suction drain.A detailed history was collected, physical examination and routine investigations were done and all the patients were followed up in post-operative phase. Data was tabulated, organized, analysed and interpreted in both descriptive and inferential statistics i.e., frequency and percentage distribution, by using statistical package for social science software (SPSS), version 22.0. Results: In the present study, 16% patients in the drain group and 42% in the nondrain group developed infections. The hospital stay in the drain group was also relatively lower (5.23 ± 3.2 days) as compared to non-drain group i.e. 8.98±4.56 days. Further, the most common organism found was E. coli (78%) in Group-A and (80%) in Group-B respectively. Conclusion: The findings of the present study revealed that the rate of surgical site infection (SSIs) was more in Group-B as compared to Group-A and the presence of SSIs increases the duration of hospital stay. It was concluded that the subcutaneous suction drains in emergency setting play significant role in reducing the incidence of surgical site infection.