A week after the launch of 41 two-wheeler ambulances in Chennai by Tamil Nadu government, a two-wheeler ambulance was launched at Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre (MMHRC) here on Saturday by Governor K. Rosaiah.
MMHRC authorities claimed that this was the first time a two-wheeler ambulance, which can help in attending to accident victims quickly, is launched in southern Tamil Nadu.
Later, speaking at a day-long national symposium on ‘Emergency care,’ organised by MMHRC Institute of Emergency Medicine, the Governor stressed the importance of providing effective trauma care by citing statistics on the large number of accidental deaths in India.
Stating that the country has inadequate number of trained professionals in emergency care, Mr. Rosaiah said that the need of the hour was to initiate courses and training programmes on emergency medicine to not only create a pool of trained professionals but also to provide more employment
Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao said that the department of emergency medicine should be given utmost importance in all the hospitals. “A large number of precious lives is lost due to lack of a professional approach in emergency care,” he said.
V. Ponraj, who served as Scientific Advisor to the late President Late A.P.J Abdul Kalam, recollected how the Institute of Emergency Medicine was launched an year before by Dr. Kalam.
N. Sethuraman, founder of MMHRC, said that the Institute of Emergency Medicine, apart from providing exemplary trauma care, is also training doctors and paramedics in emergency care.
A special commemorative postal cover and a book on the basics of first-aid and emergency care were released during the function.
