Aimed at ensuring emergency care to road-accident victims, the State government will soon establish level-one trauma care units at the Government Medical College Hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode, Health Minister K.K. Shylaja has said.
Inaugurating a one-day workshop on the Accident Treatment Assistance Rights Bill here on Thursday, she said the functioning of the level-one units, which would operate as apex trauma-care centres, would be complemented with level-two trauma-care units at eight district government hospitals and level-three units in the remaining district taluk-level hospitals.
“Besides the government hospitals, private hospitals will also be formed part of the network. The objective of the project is to ensure free treatment to accident victims for 48 hours,” the Minister said.
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Focus on saving lives
According to her, there is an urgent need for the hospitals to focus on saving the lives of accident victims on an emergency basis rather than consuming time assessing their financial capability to afford the treatment.
“Instead of shifting a victim to another hospital for better treatment, the hospitals should be equipped to provide their services based on the patient’s condition,” she added.
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To impart training to medical staff on emergency treatment to accident victims, an apex training centre will soon be opened in the State capital.
Ambulance network
Tender proceedings have been initiated to establish an ambulance network comprising 515 vehicles and trained staff to ensure accessibility to the service within 10 minutes of an accident.
Elaborating on the Accident Treatment Assistance Rights Bill, the Minister observed that the scope of the Bill should be expanded to include the safety of the doctors and paramedical staff as well. She reiterated the State government’s commitment to implement the Bill in its present term.
The event was organised by the Kerala State Law Reforms Commission and Chikilsa Neethi and Info Clinic in association with the School of Indian Legal Thought, Mahatma Gandhi University (MGU).
Commission Chairman K.T. Thomas said that if implemented successfully, Kerala would become the first State in the country to ensure medicalcare rights of accident victims. He said that the interventions made by the commission to reform the existing laws, including the one disqualifying leprosy patients for employment, were worth mentioning.
Commission member N.K. Jayakumar presented the draft bill.
MGU Vice Chancellor in-charge Sabu Thomas; Syndicate member Aji C. Panikkar; and commission Vice Chairman K. Saidharan Nair and member V.M. Chacko spoke.