RGGGH first to get ‘emergency department’

While the TAEI has helped reduce fatalities since January, declaring it as a department is considered to be a breakthrough that would enhance the facilities and decrease mortality rates further. 

“Since January, the casualty ward at the hospital was called TAEI. Now, it is termed Emergency Department, which is a new concept in Government hospitals. Earlier we used to call it Casualty or ‘zero-delay’ ward. While it is basically the same centre, we are now focussing vastly on the concept of ‘no time delay’,” said the dean of the hospital, Dr R Jayanthi. 

Stating that a Multi-Disciplinary Critical Care Unit  (MDCCU) was also set up recently at the hospital, she added that it would make the process easy for the patients. 

Explaining the functioning of the Centre, a Health official said, “Every patient who is wheeled into the Emergency Department is first triaged based on the seriousness of the case, and is taken to the Red, Green or Yellow zones. A patient is kept there for a maximum six hours after which he is either sent to the ward or the MDCCU.”

The unit, which was inaugurated barely a week ago, is yet to be equipped fully. 

“While the medical facilities are ready, the facilities for surgical treatment need to be set up. The Multi-Disciplinary Centre is dedicated the poly trauma cases, where doctors from all specialities will check on the patients before a decision is taken on how to proceed,” she added.  

The department is now being headed by an anaesthetist. It may be noted that a request has been sent to the government requesting to make the Emergency Centre at RGGGH the apex centre for trauma care.