The Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital here is engaged in a public-private partnership initiative to assist unidentified accident victims brought to the hospital every day.
According to hospital officials, at least a dozen persons are brought in as ‘unknown' patients either by ambulances or public.
While people may help bring a victim to the hospital, they cannot be asked wait until the patient is identified and his/her family informed. It is to fill the gap and ensure that the ‘unknown' victim gets quality care that the hospital had entered into a partnership with a non-governmental organisation.
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P.T. Ali of Accident and Death Care Cell, who has been helping the hospital dispose unclaimed bodies, came forward to supply attendants for such victims. As a first step, six men were posted in the Trauma Care Ward and their work has been much appreciated, an official of the hospital said.
The assistance of volunteers transformed the Trauma Care Ward, he added. “On March 4, fourteen persons were brought to the ward, seven of whom were unidentified. On the next day, the ward got seven persons, including three who were unidentified. These volunteers ensured that the patients were taken for investigations without delay,” the official said.
“We sought four volunteers for the Casualty to tend to patients who are brought in autorickshaws and taxis. Most of the delay is because there is no one to attend to the unidentified patient,” the official said. The volunteers would not be used to shift patients to wards, however. Those brought in ambulances are invariably accompanied by paramedics.
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A nurse in-charge of the volunteers posted in the Casualty Ward said, “Currently two volunteers are working eight-hour day shifts and two volunteers work from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., since the hospital receives more unknown victims during the night.”
The hospital is also planning to introduce the system in the orthopaedics and medical emergency wards in the next few months.