Daijiworld Media Network- Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Jun 29: In a major development for healthcare infrastructure in Karnataka, the central government has approved the setting up of a state-of-the-art Poly Trauma Centre and postgraduate unit at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) North Campus in Bengaluru. The ambitious project, estimated at Rs 498 crore, will cater to trauma victims and train medical specialists in emergency care.

The 300-bed facility will come up at NIMHANS’s Kyalasanahalli campus in Bengaluru North and aims to significantly strengthen the city’s emergency response system. The Union Finance Ministry has cleared the proposal submitted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). Final nod from the Union Health Ministry is now awaited.

The Karnataka government had previously allocated 39 acres of land for this project back in 2012-13. The North Campus will not only house the trauma hospital but will also include residential quarters for staff, hostels, guest houses, administrative blocks, and necessary support infrastructure.

According to government sources, the Union Finance Ministry has laid out specific conditions for the project. It has asked NITI Aayog to streamline the manpower and infrastructure involved, ensure services are extended to regular patients as well, and design a long-term national policy on emergency and critical injury care — a recommendation stemming from the 2021 NITI Aayog report.

MP Dr Manjanath hailed the Centre’s approval, calling it the fulfilment of a long-standing dream of Kannadigas. Taking to social media, he expressed gratitude to the central leadership and emphasized that the hospital’s growing burden needed such an expansion.

“In our country, around 15% of deaths are due to road accidents, and nearly 30% involve multiple injuries. The golden hour is crucial in such cases, and a dedicated Poly Trauma Centre will greatly benefit Karnataka, especially Bengaluru,” he remarked.

Jayaprakash Narayan, another health advocate, noted that this will be only the second such centre in India. “The addition of a postgraduate unit will ensure that specialists in trauma care are trained systematically and can be deployed across the country,” he added.

Bangalore South MP Tejaswi Surya also welcomed the move. “This is a timely and necessary intervention. The absence of a dedicated trauma care facility in this region was a longstanding issue. My thanks to Prime Minister Modi and Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda for sanctioning this Rs 498 crore facility,” he stated.

With this initiative, NIMHANS is poised to emerge as a national leader in trauma care, bridging critical gaps in emergency services and specialist training — a much-needed step in a country grappling with rising accident-related casualties.