N Bengal devoid of trauma centres

SNS, Siliguri, 16 July 2013: North Bengal has remained devoid of a trauma care centre, though road mishaps and landslides are almost daily occurrences in the region of Darjeeling and Sikkim. 

There is a premier health institute ~ North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) ~ that caters to the needs of the people of the six Hill districts apart from some neighbouring states. 

The patients, brought here are referred to the hospitals in Kolkata in most of the cases, but many of them cannot afford the expenses involved in transportation and treatment. 

The junior doctors associated with NBMCH have been demanding a trauma care centre for years. The decision to set up a trauma care unit at NBMCH was taken during the regime of the erstwhile Left Front government. 

But things have remained where they were and there is no immediate prospect of the institute being endowed with the essential facility. “More than 10 cases requiring the service of trauma care unit are reported daily. 

At times patients sustaining head injuries die.” said a junior doctor working with NBMCH. 

“When NBMCH refers patients to Kolkata or elsewhere many of the families cannot make it as they are not economically strong enough to meet the expenses,” he said. “We just see them die helplessly,” he added. 

However, the NBMCH Principal, Dr Anup Roy said that things are moving on.