On Saturday, Kerala took a further step in public health infrastructure development. An emergency and trauma care centre has been inaugurated at the Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram. Simultaneously, a casualty ward with modern facilities was opened at the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) in the city. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated both the facilities in a virtual function.
People in Thiruvananthapuram and the neighbouring Kollam district rely on the Government Medical College for medical assistance. People from as far as Kanyakumari at the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border come to RCC, a premiere institute of cancer care in the state. State Health Minister KK Shailaja said that the aim of the government is to give treatment with global standards to the poor.
The Emergency and Trauma Care centre at the Medical College cost Rs 33 crore to build. A garden, a new road to evade traffic, a triage facility (to provide treatment as per the severity of the condition) for emergency treatment, a modern trauma care centre, centres for cardiology and stroke, mass casualty and disaster management, operation theatres and intensive care units have been set up here.
Various departments like Medicine, Surgery, Orthopaedics and ENT come under this hospital’s wing. This level 2 trauma care system (to provide care for patients with severe trauma) has been set up in consultation with doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS). Treatment will be provided by dividing patients into red (high risk condition), green (less complex condition) and yellow (minor to moderate conditions). The trauma care centre has five theatres for emergency operations, two ICUs and 21 ventilators. Speciality and super speciality facilities will be available on call.
The new casualty ward at RCC cost Re one crore to build. It resolves the drawbacks of the old casualty ward by following the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare guidelines. Emergency care can be given to ten patients at a time while ensuring their privacy. It has a triage facility, various types of beds for special needs, monitoring and life-saving equipment for each bed and a separate waiting room.