HYDERABAD: Ending years’ long ordeal of the road accident victims on highways, the health department has approved starting 25 intensive care units (ICUs) in the state at a cost of around `1.5 crore for each unit.
“The file has been circulated to chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. Once, he clears the file, orders will be issued sanctioning 25 ICUs in 10 districts of the state,” official sources told Express on Tuesday.
The sources said that each ICU will have three doctors and six nurses, besides regular staff. “We will recruit doctors and nurses for these ICUs soon,” an official said.
The accident victims mostly on national highways and state highways have been facing lot of problems as they have to be shifted to Hyderabad for medicare, in the absence of trauma care units in the districts. Most of the road accident victims were succumbing to their injuries on their way to Hyderabad hospitals. If timely medicare was provided, the toll would decrease, an official said.
Of the 25 ICUs to be sanctioned, ten will be located in all district headquarters towns. The remaining will be located on highways and remote areas. However, the ICUs or trauma care units require anaesthetists. There is a shortage of anaesthetists in the state for recruitment, admitted sources in the health department. “We will give a notification for recruitment of anaesthetists soon,” the sources said and this will be entrusted toVaidyaVidhan Parishad.