The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Coimbatore News : Health Secretary promises more trauma care centres, ambulances

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Saturday, Oct 31, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

Health Secretary promises more trauma care centres, ambulances

Staff Reporter

Coimbatore: The government plans to set up more trauma care centres on highways in two phases, and acquire 300 more ambulances, according to V.K. Subburaj, Principal Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare. He was addressing the inaugural of ‘INDUS EM 2009,’ 5th Indo-US Emergency Medicine Summit, at the PSG College of Technology on Friday.

Every year 1,20,000 persons died and six to seven lakh people suffered injuries in road accidents, Mr. Subburaj said adding that 8,872 lives had been saved in a year with the introduction of the ambulance service by Emergency Medical Research Institute. Mr. Subburaj said the government had set up disaster control and Management authorities at the State and district level.

Thanks to the extension of health care facilities through 1,513 primary health centres, the mortality rate of mothers and just-born babies had come down considerably, he said.

He also highlighted the need for timely intervention in cases of Chikungunya and A (H1N1) influenza.

He exhorted such summits to come up with deliberations, protocol and procedures so that the government could act on the same and bring in improvements in the new field of emergency medicine.

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