27 January 2017
PUNE: A 3,500 sq ft trauma care centre constructed by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) on the Mumbai-Pune expressway, which has been ready since the past two years, will be operational by April. The state health department is currently evaluating proposals from three medical institutions to supply staff to the centre.
The centre at Ozarde, near Talegaon has operation rooms, recovery rooms and two helipads. However, it was not commissioned as there were no doctors or paramedical staff to treat accident victims. A senior MSRDC official said the corporation has written several letters to the state health department over the past two years, asking them to appoint an agency to run the centre. However, they have not received a response.
The state health department received proposals from Mahatma Gandhi Medical College in Kamothe, Shree Shankar Charitable Trust in Pune and Sancheti Hospital in Pune to supply staff.
“We are currently evaluating their proposals based on parameters we had set. This will be done by the end of the month and the centre will be operational by April,” said Dr H. H. Chavan, deputy director of health services, Pune.
The 94-km expressway, touted to rival the best in the world, is fast emerging as a death trap considering the number of accidents and deaths on it. Between 2010 and 2016, 4,634 accidents on the expressway cost 1,323 people their lives. With such a high rate of accidents, a trauma care centre is essential to provide medical assistance in the ‘golden hour’ to save lives.
Mumbai’s Shree Siddhivinayak Ganapati Temple Trust has agreed to fund the equipment required for the centre. “We have told the MSRDC that we will fund the equipment, for which we have made a provision of Rs1.25 crore in our budget. As soon as the government appoints an agency to run the centre, we will release the funds. We are prepared to donate more if the need arises,” said Naresh Rane, chairman of the trust.
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