Emergency care center opened on Chennai-Bangalore highway

CHENNAI: Victims of road mishaps on highways usually don't have access to an immediate care center. Many end up losing their lives due to this reason alone. The Tamil Nadu Accident Initiative (TAI) seeks to fix this issue with the opening of a new emergency and trauma care centre at Sriperamburdur on the Chennai-Bengaluru highway. The aim of the centre is to attend to victims of road accidents on highways leading into the city from the southern parts of the country.

The centre is located close to the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial and is equipped with ventilators, defibrillators and other essential lifesaving equipment. According to accident analysis done by the state, there were at least 46 fatal accidents in the 8km stretch – 4km on either side of the centre of the highway. The stretch has witnessed more than 184 fatal accidents and 102 grievous injuries since 2016 according to the data.

State health minister C Vijaya Baskar inaugurated the facility on Wednesday. He said the centre will have doctors and nurses on duty round the clock.

First aid and stabilization will be done for the victims before moving them to a tertiary care centre. The stabilization process would take around 10-20 minutes, if done within the golden period, it could save the patient's life. The centre has colour-coded beds to indicate the severity of the patient's condition. Beds with a red tag are reserved for most critical patients, orange beds for moderately-ill ones and green beds for patients with minor injuries.

An emergency centre within 10 minutes of the accident spot acts as a hub before a patient is taken to a tertiary centre, said the health minister.

Previously, a similar care centre was opened near Tambaram Government Hospital in 2013. Next year, the government opened a centre in Padiyanallur near Red Hills. Since its inception, more than 21,116 people have been treated in the Tambaram centre and 14,455 have been treated in the Padiyanallur centre.