The Hindu

• The 150-crore project will be implemented in three years 

Bangalore, Jun 18: The State Government will establish trauma care centres in 275 community health centres to provide quick relief to victims of road accidents.

Deputy chief minister B S Yediyurappa said here on Sunday that the centres would come up over the next three years in the towns along the national and the State highways.

Speaking at a function organised to handover 44 ambulances to trauma centres at the Vidhana Soudha here,  Yediyurappa, who also holds the Finance portfolio, said a trauma centre would be established at a distance of every 30 km on the highways in the State. The cost of the project has been estimated at Rs 150 crore.

Forty-four trauma centres had been established under the Karnataka Health System Development Project aided by the World Bank. These centres were providing 24-hour service, he said.

Ambulances

Minister for Health and Family Welfare R Ashok said the Department had provided 525 ambulances to various hospitals in the State. Fifty ambulances had been distributed to hospitals in 2006-07. The newly commissioned ambulances were equipped with oxygen cylinders, ventilator, spinal board and audio system.

The cost of each vehicle was Rs. 11.22 lakh.

About 300 ambulances would be purchased over the next three years with the participation of non-governmental organisations and the Fire and Emergency Services Department.

Each trauma centre had been established at a cost of Rs 25 lac. An intensive care unit would be provided at the K C  General Hospital in Malleswaram in Bangalore.

The Government was planning to bring in legislation in the coming legislature session to regulate nursing homes in the State. The Bill would make two years of service in Government hospitals mandatory to those students who studied in Government nursing schools and colleges, he said.