SCB Trauma Care Centre misses deadline, again

CUTTACK: The SCB Medical College and Hospital has yet again missed its December 31 deadline even as the authorities on Saturday claimed to put the Centrally- sponsored Trauma Care Centre into part operation by January 6. The State Health Department and the SCBMCH authorities had committed before the Orissa High Court to ensure full-fledged functioning of the Trauma Care centre, which has been funded by the Central  Government to ensure emergency multi-speciality services to the accident victims and save many lives in the process, by the end of December.  However, the Government and the hospital have lost pace and can muster operation of one operation theatre, 60 beds and six ICU beds at the most by January 6. The centre being established at a cost of ` 6 crore was envisaged to have about 150 beds, two state-of-the-art operation theatres, 16-bed ICU, recovery rooms and other ancillary utilities in a five-storey unified complex. The High Court-appointed advocates committee comprising amicus curiae PR Das, advocate Tarananda Patnaik and Dr PK Pradhan on Saturday visited the hospital to take stock of the progress in work. “The authorities have reported to make the facility part functional initially and complete the whole work by the end of February. They have committed to get the second OT complex ready by the end of January and add more ICU beds and install more ventilators and other equipment”, Das said. The Trauma Care Centre runs the risk of withdrawal of the Central funds if it did not achieve full functionality by March. The Centre, interestingly, had been inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in February this year as a “namesake” facility. The casualty wing of the hospital had been shifted to the complex and was put forth as trauma care centre. The Orissa High Court had taken strong note of the failure and had directed the Government to ensure completion of the works by December-end. The Centre would now be the first point of reference for all accident cases. It would have doctors drawn from all the departments concerned as neurosurgery, orthopaedics, surgery, anaesthesiologists to render services round the clock. This multi-speciality facility would save a lot of lives as accident victims would be given prompt treatment. Earlier, they had to be taken to department after department and many lives were lost in the process.