Midnapore, May 20: Vijay Pal Singh, the CRPF deputy commandant killed in the Maoist blast yesterday, might have survived had adequate medical facilities been available near the attack spot, CRPF officers posted in the rebel belt of West Midnapore said today.

The officers said two hours were lost transporting the injured Singh and constable Nabakumar Ghosh to Midnapore Medical College and Hospital, about 75km from the blast spot. Several hours were then wasted waiting for a helicopter to fly them to Calcutta for further treatment.

“There is a health centre each in Lalgarh and Goaltore. While the health centre at Lalgarh is just 14km from the blast spot, the one at Goaltore is 13km away. But both the centres lack adequate facilities to treat patients with blast or bullet injuries,” a CRPF officer said.

“If basic facilities like operation theatres, X-ray and scanning machines, and equipment to stem bleeding had been available at these centres, at least an attempt could have been made to save Singh’s life. Two precious hours were lost transporting him to the hospital in Midnapore town.”

Doctors at the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital and other health centres in the districts said health centres such as those in Lalgarh and Goaltore were only equipped to handle childbirth and minor illnesses like fever and stomach ailments. They conduct only minor surgeries like boil operations, and stitch up deep wounds.

“We don’t have the infrastructure to handle major cases at these health centres. We refer patients with grievous injuries and illnesses to bigger hospitals like the one in Midnapore town,” said Nripati Roy, the chief medical officer of health, West Midnapore.

CRPF officers wondered why the government did not have proper medical facilities to handle blast and bullet injuries at the health centres in the Maoist-affected areas of Lalgarh, Goaltore and Belpahari.

“There have been many blasts and encounters in the region and it is high time the administration set up a proper treatment centre to tackle such cases,” a CRPF officer said.

After yesterday’s blast in which Singh and four jawans were killed, CRPF personnel rushed from their camps at Kadashol and Ramgarh within 20 minutes and took the injured to the Goaltore health centre.

“There was no facility there. The doctors just put antiseptic, bandaged their wounds, gave pain-killer injections and asked us to immediately shift them to Midnapore Medical College and Hospital. We took them in an ambulance to Midnapore town,” a CRPF officer said.

Parthapratim Pradhan, the vice-principal of the medical college, said deputy commandant Singh and constable Ghosh were brought to the hospital around 1.30pm.

“We put them on oxygen, bandaged their wounds and plugged the ruptured vessels immediately. But as a lot of blood had already been lost, and since we don’t have a multi-facility trauma-care unit, we referred them to a Calcutta hospital,” Pradhan said.

CRPF officers said the helicopter in which the two were to be taken to Calcutta arrived from Ranchi around 4pm.

“We could also have saved a lot of time had the injured been directly flown from Goaltore to Calcutta,” a CRPF officer said.

L.N. Tripathi, a Calcutta-based neuro-surgeon and trauma-care expert, said blast victims with splinter injuries who do not get immediate attention “die because of bleeding and shock resulting from bleeding. It is very important to stop the bleeding immediately and replace the amount of blood and blood cells lost.”

He said basic infrastructure like stitching sets, coagulation machines (to control bleeding), ventilators, laparotomy instruments (to examine the abdomen), oxygen tubes, intravenous fluids, life-saving drugs and units of blood were needed at a trauma-care centre.

“At least a surgeon and an anaesthetist should be at hand,” Tripathi added.