In the month since a dedicated trauma care centre was commissioned at the Tambaram Taluk Government Hospital in Chromepet, 116 patients were stabilised before being shifted to other tertiary care hospitals.
The taluk hospital receives at least six to eight trauma patients daily.
The need for such a centre was felt as accident victims tended to develop complications owing to delay in transferring them elsewhere. The Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project entered into an agreement with GVK EMRI 108 to provide trained paramedics at the taluk hospital to stabilise patients before they are shifted.
Around 55 per cent of the patients treated so far are accident victims while the rest come for medical care. Nearly 20 patients, who were shifted, had suffered severe head injury and were admitted unconscious. A full-fledged trauma care includes intubating a patient before transferring them to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital for treatment.
“The taluk hospital has provided us most of the utilities and around 55 per cent of the injuries were treated at the hospital itself,” said B.N. Sridhar, chief executive officer of GVK EMRI 108.
A second such centre is expected to begin functioning at the Padianallur primary health centre in October. But the challenges will be different Since it is a PHC the centre will be a “stand alone” facility with paramedics having to attend to obstetric emergencies too.
“The challenge will be to shift a stabilised patient within an hour of the accident. At present, patients are shifted within 55 minutes of being stabilised at the taluk hospital,” Mr. Sridhar said.
As is the case in the GHs, a rush of patients is noticed in the first week of every month. Hospital sources said they also receive patients from corporate hospitals located close to the highway. A source said that in the past month, private ambulances brought three injured patients to the taluk hospital as they were unaccompanied.
