Srinagar: In view of the frequent accidents on the highways of J&K, and the massive toll in these cases, the J&K Government has sought action from healthcare administrators of Jammu and Kashmir divisions for converting the health facilities along the major highways into First Response Units (FRU).
In a recently convened meeting by Principal Secretary to Government, Health and Medical Education (H&ME), Navin Kumar Chaudhary sought a detailed report from the Directorates of Health of Jammu and Kashmir divisions.
The report, as per the department, is required to include the list of all the health facilities along the national highways and on major roads connecting the districts.
The report is also required to furnish details of the manpower available at these facilities and the available manpower with the department that can be of use for saving lives.
“This includes surgeons, anesthesia staff, orthopedics, and technicians for running important diagnostic equipment,” a senior official said.
The official said it was agreed in the meeting, which was attended by all the top officials in the department, that nodal points, at specified, easily accessible locations along the major roads would be strengthened to handle trauma cases.
“This will reduce the need to shift the trauma cases to the tertiary care hospitals while they lose the Golden Hour,” the official said adding that many lives were lost due to the time they took to reach a health facility.
“The new medical colleges would also be strengthened to act as tertiary care facilities for trauma cases,” he said.
The Principal Secretary H&ME while speaking to Greater Kashmir said that the loss of lives due to delay in emergency medical intervention needed to be addressed on priority.
“Timely response in trauma cases is crucial. We witness such incidents quite frequently on the roads of J&K,” he said. He said the department had already started the process of strengthening the health facilities in order to save lives. He further said that manpower and the distance of the institutions for trauma First Response Units (FRU) would be rationalized.
A senior official in the department said the Directorate of Health Services Jammu had submitted the report with details of 141 health facilities along the highway, while the directorate of health services Kashmir was in the process of furnishing the details.
In 2012, J&K Government had set up 17 Trauma Centers along the highway. However, due to the lack of manpower, and emergency operating facilities, these hospitals soon became defunct.