Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Sept 26: Despite being a Regional hub and catering to the healthcare needs of 10 districts, Jammu still lacks a much needed Trauma Hospital. Over 80% of the trauma patients from the region, are forced to rush outside in the absence of such facility here under one roof.
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Being mostly a hilly region, apart from little plain areas of Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts, the entire region is accident prone and even several natural calamities occurred in the region during recent past. The attendants of the patients under such circumstances are forced to shift their dear ones to outside the UT. Most of them either rush to Amritsar, Ludhiana, Chandigarh or Delhi for the better healthcare facilities.
The recent Chashoti village cloudburst incident once again exposed the glaring gap in healthcare infrastructure. Several injured persons required emergency multi-specialty surgeries, but Jammu did not have a facility equipped to provide such Trauma Care Centre under one roof. Families had to shift patients outside the region, losing precious golden hours in the process.
A senior doctor in Ortho Unit of GMC Jammu on the condition of anonymity said the Jammu division, spread across hilly and accident-prone districts such as Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Rajouri, Poonch, Udhampur, Reasi, Kathua, and Samba, depends on GMC Jammu as its only referral hospital. However, in the absence of a Trauma Centre, patients with multiple injuries – involving bones, head, chest, and abdomen – cannot be treated comprehensively here.
He said globally, Trauma Centres function with orthopedics, neurosurgery, general surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, and emergency medicine under one roof. Health experts pointed out that nearly 75 to 80 percent of trauma patients present with multi-system injuries, which cannot be managed in a stand-alone orthopedic hospital. But despite this, authorities at the helm of affairs in J&K, sanctioned a Bone and Joint Hospital for Jammu instead of a Trauma Hospital, which is a decision being widely questioned.
“Having a Trauma Centre adjoining Bone and Joint Hospital, Bakshi Nagar Jammu will make our trauma patients not to suffer any more and not to rush to Amritsar, Ludhiana or Chandigarh,” he added.
Former J&K Health Minister and sitting MLA from Jammu North, Sham Lal Sharma said a Trauma Centre is urgently needed in Jammu. He said Jammu region records a highest number of road traffic accidents every year, particularly along NH-44, Chenab Valley roads, and other hilly stretches. Victims are often rushed to GMC Jammu, but due to lack of advanced trauma care, most are then referred to Punjab, Chandigarh or Delhi. This not only increases mortality but also imposes heavy financial burden on already distressed poor and lower middle class families.
Sharma said many victims lose their lives while being shifted hundreds of kilometres away from Jammu. He said the new Trauma Centre can be created just adjacent to existing Bone and Joint Hospital. There is sufficient space and a multi-story complex can be raised closer to this existing hospital. Some space of nearby CD Hospital can also be utilized for this project. He said the matter has already been discussed at certain levels and it will be forcefully taken up with the higher authorities in J&K and Delhi.
A senior officer in the Administrative Department of J&K Health and Medical Education, on the request of not to be quoted said, a Trauma Centre is much needed specially in view of the natural calamities which the region faced recently in Paddar in Kishtwar and Mata Vaishnodevi. It is also true that many accidents take place on daily basis in the region and the families move outside J&K for the treatment. A well equipped Trauma Centre is really needed in Jammu as well as in Srinagar. A proposal in this regard will be forwarded to the Government shortly though it has been discussed in several meetings, he added.
A senior officer in the administration of GMC Jammu when contacted said until a Trauma Hospital is sanctioned and made functional, patients from Jammu will continue to travel outside the Union Territory in emergencies, losing valuable time and money. The absence of such a facility remains a major gap in the healthcare system of the region, affecting thousands of lives every year.
“Immediate surgery is very crucial for spine injured patients and at present immediate surgeries to them is not being done because neither required staff nor a dedicated OT for these patients is available beyond 9-5 working hours,” he added.
The social activists, and sections of the Medical fraternity members are demanding that the Government should immediately sanction a full-fledged Trauma Centre for Jammu, with adequate staff and infrastructure. They argued that the current arrangement is an eyewash and fails to meet the needs of a region where accident cases are consistently higher than in Kashmir. Moreover, the ‘so called’ Trauma Units at established at Vijaypur and Ramban on the National Highway, are lying defunct with no adequate staff and equipment.
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