The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Medical booth at Central turns lifesaver

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 15, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Medical booth at Central turns lifesaver

By M. Dinesh Varma

CHENNAI, JULY 14. Emergency care provided at a state-of-the-art medical booth at the Central railway station has saved the lives of three passengers in the past week.

While two male passengers were taken to the booth of the Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre after they developed acute chest pain the third was diagnosed with pulmonary embolism. The emergency physician and paramedics immediately took steps to stabilise the patients before they were taken to hospital.

The booth has been functioning for over a year at the Central which over three lakh persons use everyday for transit. "We get around 10 cases of diverse nature every day", said T.V. Ramakrishnan, Department of Accident and Emergency Medicine.

The patients range from those who require suturing after a fall and asthmatics requiring relief with nebulisers to heart patients in dire need of resuscitation.

"Our effort is to provide care that is timely as well as sophisticated", said Dr. Ramakrishnan.

The observance of the `Platinum Ten Minutes', or the first ten minutes of pre-hospital care, can vastly improve treatment outcomes.

The booth is much more than a first aid centre. The round-the-clock services include mobile advanced cardiac support, defibrillators and online consultation with specialists at Sri Ramachandra Hospital.

The services are provided by a team specially trained in accident and emergency care.

The online consultation is a useful feature while handling patients in an emergency. For instance, a computerised electrocardiogram can be read online by experts situated in the hospital and instructions passed on to the treating doctor at the booth.

A well-equipped ambulance is also on the stand-by for transporting acutely-ill patients to the hospital of their choice.

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