Cops check vehicles on Park Street following the hoax terror mail on July 29; (below) a sniffer dog scans bags at Howrah station on Tuesday. Pictures by Pradip Sanyal

The terror mail may have been a hoax, but the reality of the city’s lack of preparedness for an emergency has sunk in a week later.

The majority of government and private hospitals do not have full-fledged trauma care teams, adequately stocked blood banks or paramedics trained in disaster management, all of which are a must for a city that is supposed to be under threat. Metro does a reality check:

TRAUMA CARE UNITS

Ideal situation: Round-the-clock trauma care services with specialists and paramedics who will be ready to provide relief from the moment patients are brought in from a blast site. A full-fledged trauma care unit should ideally have neuro, orthopaedic, general and plastic surgeons.

Reality: No state-run hospital has a trauma care unit yet, though health minister Surjya Kanta Misra had promised one at SSKM long ago.

“We are setting up a trauma care unit at SSKM soon,” said a health department official, but could not say when it would be operational.

Private hospitals like the RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences and Apollo Gleneagles say they have trauma centres where mock drills take place at frequent intervals.

BLOOD banks

Ideal situation: Hospitals and standalone blood banks capable of meeting a sudden spurt in demand and back-up agencies equipped to collect, process and deliver blood of all groups at short notice.

Reality: Government hospitals have 24-hour blood banks that invariably turn down requests citing unavailability. The Central Blood Bank is better but officials of the health department admit it won’t be able to make up for the shortfall elsewhere if disaster strikes.

Most private hospitals do not have blood banks. Some have small banks with limited availability of rarer blood groups.

“On a given day, we can supply 20 to 40 units of whole blood,” said an official at Apollo Gleneagles.

BEDS AND ICUs

Ideal situation: Beds and proper intensive care facilities, including ventilators, for all disaster victims.

Reality: State-run hospitals are already overcrowded and the private ones have almost 95 per cent occupancy each day.

“It is not possible to increase the number of beds… Even the trolleys are occupied by patients,” said Anup Roy, the superintendent of Medical College and Hospital.

The number of beds in burns units, which are the busiest when blasts occur in a city, is inadequate, too.

Private hospitals say they can create space for extra beds whenever necessary, but that won’t be enough to cope with an emergency.

“We will be able to take in only extremely critical patients. We can set up critical care areas for 15 to 20 patients,” an Apollo official said.

PARAMEDICS

Ideal situation: Paramedics with adequate disaster management training and knowledge about the facilities in each hospital.

Reality: Every government hospital in the city is short of paramedical staff. “In our hospital, there is a 30 per cent shortage of Group C and D paramedics,” said a senior official of NRS Hospital.

AMBULANCES

Ideal situation: Fleets of ambulances in every hospital.

Reality: The medical colleges in Calcutta have two ambulances each that mostly cater to VIP patients. Private hospitals have trauma care ambulances but the numbers aren’t enough for a situation where scores of people have to be reached at the same time.

OFFICIAL VERSION

“State-run medical colleges provide training to doctors and paramedical staff on disaster management on a regular basis. There is no dearth of blood in banks or other facilities,” said S.N. Banerjee, the director of medical education.