Despite frequent mishaps, no trauma centre on Abohar NH

Raj Sadosh

Abohar, July 11

Sanjha Front, an NGO, today said they have discovered ‘gross negligence’ in equipping the maiden toll plaza outside Gidderanwali village on the Abohar-Sriganganagar highway with adequate first-aid facilities for accident victims, and urged the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to equip its ambulance to that end.

Raju Charaya, convener of the Sanjha Front, said that when they visited the family of a teenager who died in a collision with a stray animal on the highway yesterday, they were told that the NHAI ambulance stationed at the toll plaza lacked an oxygen cylinder, among other first-aid equipment. Besides, no paramedics were available to safely transport the injured to the Abohar Civil Hospital in case of an emergency.

The activists said that they then went to the toll plaza and discovered the allegations made by the bereaved family were substantial. They were informed that the ambulance was operated by a contractor. Charaya said, “When they called him and expressed their concern, he said he was in a meeting with an official at Abohar and would discuss the issue later. He did not follow up.” The activists recorded a video of the ambulance and sent it to the district administration, requesting an inquiry.

Charaya stated that there was no health facility along the approximately 41-km-long Abohar-Sriganganagar highway.

Other activists recalled that in 2010, Punjab Health Minister Luxmi Kanta Chawla had recommended to the Central Government a trauma centre on this accident-prone motorway.

In September, 2018, LoP Sunil Jakhar had asked the state government to establish a trauma centre on the road because it clocked the highest number of accidents in the region. The SAD-BJP government approved two community health centres on the Abohar-Hanumangarh road but not on the Sriganganagar one.

During CM Charanjit Singh Channi’s visit to Fazilka in December 2021, then-MLA Arun Narang had requested him to sanction a trauma centre, as in most accident cases, the civil hospital at Abohar referred injured persons to Faridkot.

Last year, MLA Sandeep Jakhar too asked the Chief Minister and Health Minister to approve a trauma centre on the Abohar-Sriganganagar highway to save the lives of accident victims. The activists, however, said that so far, only assurances have been dropped into the bucket.