State to get more accident and trauma care centres, ambulances soon

Along with a policy to enhance treatment to prevent road accident deaths, the health department, on Tuesday, also announced a few policies to develop the 108 Ambulance service. “In 2015, over 15,000 persons lost their lives due to road accidents. There are various factors responsible for the same, which include, the inability to reach the victim on time owing to traffic and other factors, and the lack of many trauma care centres across the state,” said a source from a government hospital. 

With this in mind, the health department announced accident and trauma care centres to be opened at the Government Vellore Medical College, Kilpauk Hospital, Rajaji Hospital, Madurai, Tirunelveli Government Hospital, Kanniyakumari Government Hospital and Mohan Kumaramangalam Hospital, Salem, after a recent announcement of opening the same at the Tambaram Government Hospital at Chrompet. 

The 108-ambulance service, on the other hand, will see an addition of 50 new ambulances to replace the old vehicles, which is expected to help in terms of reducing response time and reaching out to more people. 

Pilots of the ambulance service will also be provided with android mobile. “It will help in locating the caller swiftly. If we are able to serve early, we can also save early,” said Prabudoss, who heads the 108 Ambulance facility. Health minister C Vijaya Baskar also announced in the assembly that 32 Neonatal Ventilators will also be provided to the Neonatal Ambulance services and 10 Ambulance Ventilators to ‘108’ Ambulance service. 

“Totally, we have around 66 neo natal ambulances, 34 of which have ventilator services. With 32 coming in, all 66 will have neo natal ventilators. Tamil Nadu will become the proud state with all the vehicles becoming Basic Life Support compatible. We will have the largest neo natal fleet also,” Prabudoss said.