Bangalore: The Centre is likely to sanction a 200-bed trauma care centre for the city. It will be located on a National Highway and near a government hospital.

M.N. Vidyashankar, Secretary to the Government, Department of Medical Education, told The Hindu that a meeting had been called in New Delhi on Monday to discuss this issue. "We will be making a presentation on the project at the meeting," Mr. Vidyashankar said.

Karnataka is one of the three States to get the project. Tamil Nadu and Gujarat are the other two States. Officials from all the three States will be present at the meeting on Monday.

The National Institute for Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) and the Sanjay Gandhi Accident and Rehabilitation Centre are the two trauma care centres in the government sector in Bangalore, which handle accident cases.

While the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital is ill equipped to handle emergencies, NIMHANS is overloaded with head injury cases from all over the State being referred to it.

The authorities at NIMHANS have been asking the State Government to upgrade the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital to handle emergency cases better.

The new trauma care centre is likely to ease the pressure on NIMHANS.

This is the second time that the Centre has decided to sanction funds for the State in the health sector.

Earlier this year, a decision was taken by the Centre to invest Rs. 100 crore in Bangalore Medical College and its affiliated hospitals — Victoria, Bowring and Lady Curzon, Vani Vilas, Minto Ophthalmic Hospitals and the SDS Tuberculosis and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases to upgrade them to the standards maintained by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi.

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