NEW DELHI: An integrated trauma care system, envisaged to cover the Golden Quadrilateral and the northsouth and eastwest corridors, is in the offing. The National Highway Trauma Care project — first of its kind in the country — is expected to bring down the preventable accident deaths to 10 per cent of the present 80,000 fatalities every year.

The project will be implemented by the Ministries of Health and Family Welfare and Road Transport and Highways at a cost about Rs. 900 crores. The proposal will be placed before the Cabinet soon for approval, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss told The Hindu.

Indian highways and vehicles are world-class now. But unfortunately the driving sense has not changed, resulting in increasing road accidents," he said. The project proposes to upgrade and strengthen hospitals, primarily the government set-ups, train manpower and provide for rapid transport for the trauma victim to provide him medical help within the "golden hour" or the crucial first hour after the accident.

"We have identified government hospitals and some medical college hospitals for upgrading and strengthening but there are some stretches where there are no government facilities. Here, we will tie up with the private hospitals," Dr. Ramadoss said.

At the first level, the centre will have major super-specialities and provide clinical management, research, documentation and training. It will be located in major cities at a distance of 700-800 km apart. Financial support of Rs. 10 crores to each institution has been proposed.

The second level care will provide in-house emergency physicians, surgeons, orthopaedics, anaesthetists and on-call facilities for neurosurgeons or trained general surgeons. Here, the existing medical college hospitals or hospitals with a bed strength of 300-500 have been identified. This facility will be available at a distance of 100 km and financial support to the extent of Rs. 5 crores has been proposed to upgrade the infrastructure. In the third level, trauma care will provide initial evaluation and stabilisation of the patient and comprehensive medical and surgical inpatient services. The district or tehsil hospitals with a capacity of 100-200 beds will be selected. They will be given Rs. 3 crores each.

At the basic level, there will be an equipped ambulance to provide first aid or basic life support while transporting the patient to the nearest trauma centre.

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