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• Pune The national trauma care project, which got off to a delayed start, is awaiting funds to begin the second phase at the state-run Sassoon General Hospital.The hospital is among those earmarked to set up a trauma care centre under the integrated Highway Trauma Care System. The Health Ministry is implementing the scheme along the Golden Quadrilateral and the north-south and east-west corridors of the national highways at an approximate cost of Rs 700 crore. “We have completed the first phase of construction of the centre at the hospital. The second phase involves setting up equipment and recruiting manpower,” said Dr Ajay Chandanwale, Dean, B J Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital. While Rs 80 lakh was used in the first phase of the project in lieu of infrastructure development, in the second phase, the Centre has granted Rs 5.5 crore for purchase of instruments while in the third phase, personnel will be recruited.

• Dr S B Nadoni, senior regional coordinator, health and family welfare department (Maharashtra & Goa) told The Indian Express, “The statement of expenditure from Sassoon Hospital has been submitted to the Health Ministry and we have received a reply that the funds will be released soon. While the trauma centre has come up in Vashi, Pune, Kolhapur, Satara and Nagpur are among other cities listed to start the units.

• Six months ago, the hospital was given an ambulance from the Union Health Ministry as part of the scheme. However, it has yet to be made operational, authorities said.“It is a triage unit and connected with the casualty. In case of major accidents or emergencies, the initial sorting of patients will be done in the casualty that has been upgraded as part of the trauma centre. The patients will have to be wheeled to the trauma operation theatre in the orthopaedic department in the adjoining building,” said Dr D G Kulkarni, medical superintendent of the hospital.

• In this regard, the hospital had also sought the Bombay High Court’s permission to cut three Ashoka trees that had come in way of construction of a covered walkway to connect the casualty and operation theatre at the proposed trauma centre.While there is an ambitious plan of getting a three-digit number for Sassoon Hospital that citizens can dial in case of emergencies, now it is yet another waiting period till funds are disbursed to set up equipment. The hospital has also set up a committee to look into these issues, which include starting a course in emergency medicine.

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