5 trauma centres in WB, Gadkari tells Hill MP

SNS, SILIGURI,  07 APRIL 2022 : Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Jairam Gadkari today answered to a question raised by Rajya Sabha member from the Hills, Shanta Chhetri, on whether the central government had set up Trauma Care Centres (TCC) on highways in West Bengal.

Ms Chhetri also asked him to provide detailed information on such TCCs and their location, connecting National Highways in the state.

According to Ms Chhetri, Mr Gadkari told her that the Government of India had taken initiatives to set up trauma care facilities along National Highways to bring down preventable deaths due to road accidents by developing a pan-India trauma care network with the objective of setting up a designated trauma centre at every 100 km.

The union ministry has also pointed out in the 11th Five Year Plan the scheme "Assistance for Capacity Building for developing Trauma Care Facilities (TCF) in state-run hospitals on National highways. Five TCFs were approved, based on the proposals received from the state government of West Bengal and as per scheme norms, the union Minister said. Of the five, two are in North Bengal, including one at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) in Siliguri.

It may he recalled that Chief Minister Mamata Banerrjee had inaugurated a Level-II Trauma Care Unit at the NBMCH from Nabanna on 4 January last year. The principal health institute is located along Asian Highway-II.

Citing increasing number of road accidents, critical care specialists have emphasized that a designated advanced trauma care facility in the region was an absolute need, according to officials.

The unit at the NBMCH has 20 beds, a to-bed recovery ward and two operation theaters. It also has facilities of orthopedics and neuro surgery. Sources said cardiovascular surgeries had not started in a full-fledged manner there.

According to health experts, the Level-II facility is able to initiate definitive care for all injured patients. There arc two more levels, I and III.

As the principal referral hospital in the region, NBMCH gets a lot of road accident victims from Siliguri and other north Bengal districts, records show.

Most accident victims suffer from poly-trauma-injuries to more than one system of the body. But it is the head injury that leads to the highest mortality and disability the sources said. The NBMCH said around four-five road accident cases on an average daily are reported there.

According to a senior surgeon, the focus was on early rescue-retrieval system and appropriate in-hospital trauma management so that the number of accident deaths within the golden hours could be prevented.

The plan for such a centre at the NBMCH was conceived during the tenure of the Left Front government in the state and the foundation stone was laid in 2008.

According to the MoRTH, during the 12th Plan, five more Trauma Care Facilities were sanctioned for Bengal. Two of them were for North Bengal districts like Alipurduar and Raiganj in North Dinajpur.