Trauma care unit on NH-16 still a far cry
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Visakhapatnam: The 330km four-lane, stretch of the National Highway-16 (Chennai-Howrah) from Vempadu of Vizag district to Itchapuram of Srikakulam district has been a death trap for motorists in the last few years, witnessing nearly three fatal accidents a day.
Neither officials of the National Highway Authorities of India nor officials of the Transport Department have taken up any initiative to set up a Trauma Care Unit (TCU) on the NH-16 stretch in the region to provide immediate quality treatment to accident victims on this treacherous stretch.
According to the NHAI officials, an average of 250 deaths and over 600 people are disabled in a year.
Police sources say the clean wide roads with no speed-breakers tempt drivers to speed, leading to most of the accidents. Cops say that lack of TCU on the stretch leads to the injured losing their lives while being shifted to hospitals.
Speaking to this paper, project director of Project Implementation Unit of NHAI, Visakhapatnam, V.K. Vijayasree said a proposal has been sent to higher officials to study the feasibility of setting up a TCU in accident prone zone.
Sources say that for any RCU in the region, infrastructure and equipment will be funded by the ministry of health and NHAI while the state government will bear the salaries and cost of its maintenance.
Director of the Medical Education and special duty in-charge of Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences K. Vishnu Prasad says that TCU is a hospital equipped to provide comprehensive emergency medical services.
Plans are afoot to start a TCU at the under-construction super-speciality hospital (VIMS), located close to NH-16, which has been delayed due to some reasons.
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