Berhampur: The MKCG hospital's trauma care centre - built five years ago and had been non-functional since then - started operating.
"We have decided to admit patients in road accident cases to this centre instead of the casualty ward. It has eight beds - five for male and three for female. Twenty-one people are being appointed in the centre on permanent basis. It will run under the direct supervision of Dr Anil Kumar Sahu," said superintendent Charan Panda. "It will be developed in a systematic way."
"We have planned to provide more doctors and other medical staff members, and it will have 24-hour surgery facilities. In emergency cases, the doctors from other departments will be asked to co-operate. The centre has X-ray and other diagnostic equipment," said principal Radhamadhab Tripathy. The centre's foundation stone was laid on December 23, 2006. The Centre had sanctioned Rs 1.50 crore to set up this and another Rs 67 lakh to procure equipment. On March 2, 2009, the then Union minister for rural development, Chandra Sekhar Sahu, inaugurated the centre just before the election code of conduct came into existence. But, neither medical equipment were installed nor were the required employees recruited at that time.
The centre is significant as the accident victims are now being taken from Berhampur either to Bhubaneswar (171km away) or to Vishakhapatnam (277km away) in Andhra Pradesh in the absence of a trauma care centre at MKCG. The MKCG is the only referral hospital in south Odisha and around 1,200 road accidents take place in Ganjam district every year, sources said. "We need 59 staffers to run the centre - at least eight senior resident doctors, six ICU medical officers, four pharmacists, two laboratory technicians, four radiographers, 18 nurses and 15 attendants. Earlier, predecessors had repeatedly asked the state government to recruit doctors. Though the staff pattern is still insufficient, the opening of the centre is just a beginning, and it will be developed subsequently," said the hospital superintendent.
