A little more care please

 The city witnesses two road accidents on an average every day, claiming at least one life every second day. In spite of the grim statistic, trauma care facilities in the state capital are conspicuous by their absence.

While 617 mishaps took place in 2010, killing 190 persons; 619 accidents took 158 lives in 2009. Over 210 accidents took place till July this year, police records reveal. But the city doesn't have a dedicated trauma care centre in the government sector and private hospitals are out of reach for many.

Experts said the city needs to improve the way it handles accident victims - from picking them up from mishap sites to infrastructure and manpower to treat them. First-aid treatment should start for the victims right at the accident spot by well-equipped ambulances with trained paramedical staff, they maintained. However, the job of taking the victims to hospitals virtually rests with PCR vans.

"We are surrounded by highways. But it is a pity that we don't have a planned approach to deal with road accidents," said Debendra Mishra, former state election commissioner and resident of Saheednagar.

Though the National Highway Authority of India has placed four ambulances on the NH within a radius of 50 kms from the city, people feel these are not enough.

"We have placed four ambulances on the NH. The requirement is reviewed periodically," said A K Ray, project director of NHAI Orissa.

Doctors say there is a huge scope to improve response mechanism to shift victims to hospitals. "Mostly PCR vans take accident victims to hospitals. Though police are doing a commendable job, they have limitations because the police vans are not equipped to give medical support while on transit. The need is for dedicated trauma care vans, equipped with life support system," said Dr Ashok Acharya, chief operating officer of a private hospital here. The facilities in private hospitals too are not enough to attend to accident victims, he conceded.

Dr Madhusudan Mishra, president of Orissa Medical Services Association, said a proposal was made for a full-fledged trauma care unit at Capital Hospital a few years ago, which never materialized.

The government, however, said it is doing its best. Dr P K Das, director medical education and training, said the highways were kept in mind as per Centre's guidelines while planning for trauma care. Accordingly, a trauma care unit was established at SCB Medical College with an estimated cost of Rs 16 crore recently. Another such facility is under construction at Khurda at an estimated cost of Rs 2.5 crore. "These are two facilities on either side of Bhubaneswar. The city has a number of private hospitals with good facilities. Besides, AIIMS is coming up in the city," Das said.

Das pointed out that the state government had decided to establish trauma care units at three levels. Besides a tertiary-level trauma care unit at Cuttack, two secondary-level units are under various stages of construction at Berhampur and Balasore at a cost of Rs 9.65 crore each. Another third-level trauma care unit is under construction at Bhadrak, he added.