Med college hosp to be apex centre of trauma care, training

Thiruvananthapuram: Health minister K K Shailaja has said Medical College Hospital of Thiruvananthapuram will be made into an apex centre of trauma care and training. Since there is space constraint on the college campus, the training centre will be functioning at a new building constructed on the General Hospital campus.
The minister said the centre will provide training on trauma care to the doctors in the health service and medical education department. Apart from this, para medical staff, nurses, ambulance drivers and employees concerned will be trained on trauma care. The centre will also provide training for police personnel, NGOs working in this field and even for the common man.
Tata Trust has given Rs 12 crore for setting up the centre and the work is nearing completion. Apart from this, Rs 12 crore was sanctioned for the centre in the state budget, she said.
The funds sanctioned will be utilised to set up cardiology and angiography simulation trainer, surgical skill trainer and other related equipment. With this, a training centre will be fulfilled under the medical education department.
Shailaja said the government had already entered into an agreement with the Tata Trust for sharing their expertise in this. The centre will be run by the Tata Trust for the first three years and then will be handed over to the health department.
The centre is set up as part of the comprehensive trauma care programme being launched in all medical college hospitals in the state. The programme is planned in the state with the support of University of Warwick, UK, and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
As per the proposal, three levels of trauma-care system will be implemented in the state, apart from the emergency department in all medical college hospitals and the simulation centre.
All medical college hospitals will come under level one trauma-care management. District and general hospitals come under second level, and taluk and community health centres under the third.