Rush for Golden Hour

Chirantan Ghosh was knocked down by a speeding car near Princep Ghat on last Friday as he was crossing the road. He was lying unconscious there. The motorist of a passing vehicle informed the Traffic control. Within a few minutes, a transit trauma care ambulance reached the spot. Chirantan was shifted to SSKM. A timely intervention saved a precious life.  

12 transit trauma care ambulances with Geographical Positioning System (GPS) locators, connected to Lalbazar Police headquarters, are daily rescuing accident victims and saving their lives. The driver, police constables and home guard trained on First Aid and cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can provide life-sustenance support till the victim is shifted to hospital. They can give victim artificial respiration in case of emergency. 

The Ambulances are equipped with all the necessary items like Emergency Kit, Blood Pressure machine, Stetho, Oxygen, Dressing tray, Emergency medicine, Saline set, Difrimettry machine, Roll-n-trolley. 

The first one hour after an accident determines the life and death and is thus called the golden hour. A lot of accident victims died because of the improper handling of the victims at the time of removal to hospital. The city police is reversing the trend. The system was inaugurated by state Finance minister Asim Dasgupta on March 28. Currently, these ambulances are functioning from 12 noon to 8 p.m., when majority of road accidents happen. The city police now wants to make it 24X7 affair.   

“An hour is too long a time for an accident victim. We want to reduce it to a few minutes. The ambulances are located so strategically that the ambulance parked nearest to accident spot can rush and rescue the victim in least possible time. They will give the immediate medical care to the victim at the ambulance only and shift the victim to hospital,” said Police Commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti. 

Within few days of their commissioning by Kolkata Police and Rotary Club of Calcutta Sun City, the ambulances have successfully shifted the accident-victims to trauma care centres. Recently, after a fire broke out at Alpha Madical Mall at Elgin Road, people trapped inside were rescued and transferred by these ambulances. “The way some accident victims are carried, their injuries might get worse. If someone has spinal cord injury, he may die if untrained people handle him,” said Dr Shankar Pradhan, a trauma care specialist.  

Chakrabarti said, though Kolkata has fewer accidents compared to other metros, still there is a room for improvement. Nothing is more important than human lives. Accidents not only rob lives, but also leave a family hapless. So we must do something to prevent that to happen. There is a plan to form a dedicated team which would reach accident spots quickly, and do “everything essential” — including moving aside local people forcibly — to take the victim to hospital. Besides some hospitals like Ruby, Calcutta Medical Research Institute (CMRI), centres at RG Kar and SSKM Hospitals will have trauma care centres. 

Kolkata Police also provides necessary assistance to the sick person by providing information on Blood Banks, 24 Hours Open Medical Shops, institution who renders Ambulances, Hospitals with specialized treatment. A software package is operational in the Control Room. The city police also renders their blood-donation card, collected from Prabaha, a weekly blood donation camp organised by different police units, in case situation demands. We have dedicated 24 Hours Medical Helpline -98300-79999 and the Senior Citizen Helpline- 98300-88884 for the people, said city police chief.  

Location

 1. B.T Road and DumDum Road Crossing (Chiriamorh)

 2. Shyambazar 5-point crossing

 3. APC Road and Vivekananda Road crossing (Maniktala)

 4. C.R Avenue and M.G Road Crossing

 5. In front of NPPS

 6. AJC Bose Road and Lenin Sarani crossing (Moulali)

 7. J. L . Nehru Road and S.N. Banerjee Road crossing (Dorina)

 8. Park Cirus 7-point crossing

 9. E.M. Bye Pass and Canal South Road (Chingrihata)

 10.  S.P. Mukherjee Road and R. B. Avenue

 11. C.G.R. Road and D.H. Road (Khidderpore)

 12. D.H Road and Taratala Road crossing