CAG finds serious gaps in trauma care centres

EVEN as Odisha government claims to have set up trauma care facilities with advanced medical equipment in all district headquarters, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has highlighted the lack of such support in several districts leading to stress on tertiary care centres and suffering of patients.

- HEMANT KUMAR ROUT @Bhubaneswar

Of the seven test-checked district headquarters hospitals (DHHs), the 2022-23 audit found non-availability of trauma care centres (TCCs) in Kandhamal, Nabarangpur, Nuapada and Puri, for which patients requiring intensive medical services had to be referred to tertiary care/trauma centres located at distant places.

As per the CAG report tabled in the Assembly recently, the critical patients could not be provided required treatment within the golden hour. The TCCs available in three of the test-checked DHHs at Bhadrak, Dhenkanal and Sundargarh had severe deficiencies in their functioning.