PRINCE KUMAR
Ranchi, May 17: The emergency care services at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences are lacking behind as the hospital management is yet to shift the emergency care unit to the state’s first state-of-the-art trauma
Built at a cost of Rs 64 crores, New Trauma Centre (NTC) at RIMS is yet to start its full-fledged operation due to a lack of manpower and the absence of a Central air supply system and vacuum system required during surgeries.
The HOD of Critical care at RIMS Dr Pradeep Bhattacharya said that the new trauma centre is almost ready, but due to the absence of a Central air supply system and vacuum system which play a crucial role during surgery, the NTC has not started its full-fledged services for which it was built.
A short visit to the hospital revealed the poor management of patients reaching the emergency care unit of the RIMS where the attendants have to face a lot of difficulties to get the patient admitted to the hospital or for getting the required treatment.
Sources at RIMS said that it can nearly take 4-5 hours to get the patient admitted to the hospital for treatment. The several procedures involved are the main sources of delay. Other reasons include a lack of manpower and an adequate number of trolleys required to shift the patient from one place to another.
Affirming the issue of the lack of an adequate number of trolleys for the patient, RIMS Public Relations Officer Dr Dipendra Kumar Sinha said that process is going on to shift the emergency care unit to the New Trauma Centre. However, he failed to provide any deadline for the same.
On the other hand, Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr Sailesh Tripathi denied commenting on the issue.
At the same time, Jharkhand High Court has time and again rebuked RIMS on many issues including manpower, testing machines, outsourcing of manpower, genome sequencing machine and many more.
Medical emergencies including road traffic injuries are one of the major leading causes of death in India. RTIs alone contribute to 1.5 Lakh deaths annually. Approximately two persons died of heart attack every hour in 2015-16. Currently, Non-Communicable Diseases alone account for ~62% of deaths in India and Communicable infections, Maternal, and Newborn account for ~27% of deaths. Most of these deaths present as emergency conditions.
As per one estimate, more than 50% of deaths and 40% of the total burden of disease in Low Middle-Income Countries could be averted with pre-hospital and emergency care. The global total addressable deaths and DALYs that can be averted amount to 24.3 million and 1023 million lives respectively. In fact, in South-East Asia alone, 90% of deaths and 84% of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) are due to emergency and trauma conditions.
According to an expert, the following steps are needed to be taken on an immediate basis to increase the efficiency of the emergency care system:
- Develop a robust integrated emergency care
service system that can comprehensively address all medical. Surgical emergencies inclusive of trauma-related care - Standardize protocols, SOPs for emergency care, inclusive of triage to have a common optimal nationwide policy.
- Strengthen the prevailing pre-hospital services such that world-class ambulance services are made available 24*7, encompassing ongoing definitive care through effective paramedics, for all citizens of the country and, these should be optimally integrated with hospital care with an efficient pre-hospital arrival system using the latest Information Technologies.
- Create adequate space for emergency care systems at the prevailing health facilities such that standardized emergency
departments with the recommended proportion of beds, infrastructure, equipment, drugs and human resources become a norm. - Expand Blood Bank related services such that even smaller Government Hospitals are ensured timely availability of on-demand blood and its related products.
- Develop mechanisms to ensure free treatment for emergency care services for all citizens covering the minimal required period for early stabilization.
