Post-Harmada mishap, trauma centres in 6 divs to be upgraded

Jaipur: The state health department has drawn up a trauma and emergency-care scale-up plan, linking it to the 2026 departmental action plan in line with Viksit Rajasthan 2047. It plans to roll out monthly trauma reporting under the trauma triage policy and include a trauma care policy to strengthen Level-1 and Level-2 trauma centres in mission mode.As part of the plan, six divisional trauma centres will be stepped up to Level I; seven old RajMES medical colleges, along with Jaipuria and Kanwatia hospitals, will be developed into Level II trauma centres. TOI had reported on Nov 5 about delayed medical care being blamed for deaths, of two victims in the Harmada road accident. Following this, the health department has decided to develop a level II trauma centre in Kanwatia hospital.
A level I trauma center is a comprehensive, highest-capability facility that can provide definitive trauma care round-the-clock, including immediate surgical intervention, critical care (ICU), advanced diagnostics, and full specialist coverage. A level II trauma center is a facility that can provide advanced trauma care and emergency surgery with critical care and diagnostics but may refer the most complex cases to a Level I centre when needed.A senior health department official said, "The upgradation of trauma centres is part of the departmental action plan for 2026 on the lines of Viksit Rajasthan 2047."The initiative comes after the Supreme Court, in Nov 2025, flagged the frequent highway deaths and took suo motu cognizance of back-to-back road crashes in Phalodi, Rajasthan, and Telangana, which in total claimed nearly 40 lives. In the Phalodi accident on Nov 2, a passenger van rammed into a stationary trailer, leaving 15 dead, including four children and 10 women, and two injured. The apex court directed the Rajasthan chief secretary to submit a comprehensive report on the incident, including circumstances, relief steps, and road-safety measures.As a part of this action plan, training capacity will also be scaled up in the state, as the health department has planned to set up trauma skill labs and basic life-saving training centres in at least three to four divisions. SMS Hospital's skill lab, cited as the first such lab in the country, has so far trained over 8,000 participants, which included more than 2,500 doctors and nursing officers, in basic life support.The action plan will also ensure adequate ICU beds, life-saving equipment, availability of tests and medicines, and fully trained doctors and nursing staff in proportion to patient load to speed up prompt treatment for road accident victims across Rajasthan.
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