Wednesday, Apr 14, 2004
Wednesday, Apr 14, 2004 |
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Chennai
By Our Staff Reporter
CHENNAI, APRIL 13. "No questions will be posed by the police to people who rescue and admit road accident victims to hospitals," the Commissioner of Police, R. Natraj, said. People refrained from helping accident victims, fearing police harassment. This often delayed the transfer of victims to hospitals, resulting in wastage of crucial time when they require immediate healthcare. Mr. Natraj gave this assurance today at a meeting organised here by the Rotary Foundation to hand over eight new ambulances to Trauma Care Consortium (TCC), a charitable trust that completed eight years of operating free ambulance service in the city on Tuesday. Several private hospitals refused to admit accident victims, as they were unsure who would pay the bill. The Police Commissioner, who is part of a committee formed by the State Government to pass guidelines to all City hospitals on trauma care, said all private hospitals would soon be directed not to refuse admission to accident victims. In 2003, 595 persons were killed in road accidents, against 700 in 2001. There may have been a reduction in the numbers over the past two years but in terms of fatalities per one-lakh persons, Chennai ranked next to New Delhi. Mr. Natraj said one way to extend trauma care to accident victims would be to urge vehicle owners to take insurance cover during vehicle registration. Chennai's vehicle population was over 17 lakhs and much of it was concentrated on 1,000 km of the 18,000 km of road in the city. The accident insurance cover, offered by TCC, in arrangement with New India Assurance, came in for praise from Mr. Natraj. Members have to pay an annual renewal fee of Rs. 495, which entails Rs. 50,000 towards hospitalisation expenses and Rs. 1 lakh to the nominee in case of death. "We will try and recommend that this kind of insurance be made mandatory for all vehicle owners," he said. The director, TCC, Suniti Solomon, called upon corporate houses and individuals to donate funds for the ambulance service. The vehicles were presented to TCC under the international matching grants programme of the Rotary Foundation. The Rotary Club representatives said last year alone, projects worth Rs. 33 crores were executed in India under the programme. The ambulances were bought at Rs. 24 lakhs. The Trauma Care Consortium can be reached at 1, Raman Street, T. Nagar or: 2815 0700/12703. It also runs the ambulance and mortuary van service of the Government General Hospital at government-determined rates. The Joint Commissioner (Traffic), G.U.G. Sastry, and Rotary district governor, S.R. Ramanathan, participated.
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