Trauma centre at Civil Hospital in Karnal turns into ‘referral centre’

Parveen Arora

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Karnal, July 23

The trauma centre at the District Civil Hospital here seems to have turned into a “referral centre”, causing inconvenience to emergency patients, particularly those who come here after the regular OPD hours.

The OPD block of the hospital operates till 2 pm, while the trauma centre runs round the clock to deal with emergency cases.

Presently, the trauma centre is facing severe operational issues. Since its inception in 2007, the traucentre has had four sanctioned posts each for medical officer, radiographer, pharmacist and laboratory technicians; two posts each for orthopaedicians, general surgeons, anaesthetists and radiologists; one post each for a neurosurgeon and neurologist.

At present, there are five medical officers, 16 staff nurses and three radiographers at the trauma centre. There are no dedicated pharmacists or specialists and only on-call specialists, except for neurosurgeons and neurologists, are available, said an official on the condition of anonymity.

One of the major problems is the non-functioning X-ray machine at the trauma centre. Consequently, X-ray scans had to be conducted in the Radiology Department of the Civil Hospital till 8 pm. The patients in emergency situations either have to wait for the arrival of the on-call duty radiographer or go to Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College (KCGMC) or private institutions for getting X-ray done.

The patients find it difficult to travel to other institutions for X-ray at night. The trauma centre is also facing a shortage of specialists. In the absence of neurologists and neurosurgeons, the patients with head injuries are often referred to other institutions.

The lack of a pharmacist at the trauma centre means that medicines are provided by nursing staff after 2 pm. Out of the four post of pharmacists, three are lying vacant.

The situation causes a significant distress and inconvenience to the patients and their attendants.

A local who had brought his injured brother to the trauma centre said, “We have to go to KCGMC for X-ray. We were asked either to wait for the arrival of an on-call duty doctor or get it done from outside.”

Admitted that there are some issues, the hospital administration claims that X-ray is being conducted at night by the on-call duty doctor.

Dr Balwan Singh, the officiating principal medical officer (PMO), admitted the shortage of pharmacists, but said that the nursing staff was providing medicines to emergency patients. He added that there is a provision for an on-call radiographer after 8 pm to conduct X-ray at night.

Dr Deepak Goyal, in-charge of the trauma centre, said they had been making efforts to ensure round-the-clock facilities for all patients. “For the smooth functioning of the X-ray machine at the trauma centre, we have called an engineer who suggested getting a digital radiography machine, which will be purchased soon,” he added.

Civil Surgeon Dr Krishan Kumar said a request has been sent to higher authorities to fill the vacant post of specialists.

On-call specialists

• Since its inception in 2007, the trauma centre has had four sanctioned posts each for medical officer, radiographer, pharmacist and laboratory technicians; two posts each for orthopaedicians, general surgeons, anaesthetists and radiologists; one post each for a neurosurgeon and neurologist.
• At present, there are five medical officers, 16 staff nurses and three radiographers at the trauma centre. There are no dedicated pharmacists or specialists and only on-call specialists, except for neurosurgeons and neurologists, are available