Kovai Medical Center and Hospitals (KMCH) has launched a Mobile Stroke Unit, a specialised ambulance to address patients affected by stroke within the crucial three-hour window.

The ambulance would be staffed by a nurse, a paramedic, emergency personnel and CT technologist and equipped with lab testing equipment and a CT scanner to diagnose the type of stroke.

The stroke physician at the main hospital would evaluate each patient via telemedicine and a neuroradiologist would remotely assess CT images. The two-way video conferencing would allow communication with the patient, family and stroke experts, said Nalla G Palaniswami, Chairman, KMCH.

Emphasising the importance of such a specialised unit on wheels, he said “stroke therapy has been a challenge not only in India but across the globe due to two primary reasons. The first-line treatment, which is instilling the clot buster drug, should be initiated within the first three hours of the stroke. Further, stroke need not necessarily be due to a blood clot blocking the vessel. It could also be because of bleeding into the brain tissue. If the paralysis is because of bleeding, then instilling the clot buster drug would only worsen the patient's condition. The CT image would help distinguish whether the stroke is due to bleeding or a clot blocking the blood vessels.”

CT scanning can be performed even when the vehicle is on the move and drug administered during transit, he said, highlighting the crucial need for such a mobile unit in a country like India, where more than one million are said to be affected by strokes every year