West Bengal gets its first trauma care unit

Kolkata, Dec 5 : A private hospital has started West Bengal's first Trauma Care Unit (TCU) to deal with the rapidly increasing road traffic accidents here particularly in the EM Bypass area, the eastern part of the city, authorities said.

Ruby General Hospital, located in north-eastern Kolkata, inaugurated the TCU Thursday evening.

"This TCU is one of its kind in West Bengal. We decided to start this unit after getting about 126 accident cases a month in the area since the beginning of 2008," Chairman and Managing Director of the hospital Kamal K. Dutta told IANS Friday.

He said most of the deaths from road accidents can be prevented if the victims are attended to in time.

"We have seen that a majority of the road accident victims die during the 'Golden Hour' (the time period of one hour in which the lives of a majority of critically injured trauma patients can be saved if definite surgical intervention is provided) as it takes a considerable time for them to reach hospitals."

"Hence we have strategically located the TCU at the accident-prone zone near EM Bypass," Dutta said.

The TCU is equipped with 15 trauma surgeons. There are provisions for all major surgeries including general, neuro and plastic surgeries.

According to WHO predictions, if a concerted effort is not made to improve the services by 2020, there will be 147 percent increase in road traffic accident (RTA) deaths in India. India has one percent of the world's vehicles, but six percent of the total global RTA deaths.