Hyderabad: With 40% of all fatal road accidents being recorded on national highways in Telangana every year, authorities are working on ramping up trauma care facilities across toll plazas. Apart from a central govt proposal to have one trauma care centre at each toll plaza in the state, the Telangana govt is also planning to set up similar facilities on NH65, which records the highest number of accidents.
“The Central government has put forth a proposal to establish trauma care facilities adjacent to toll plazas, equipped to handle emergencies. We have identified 17 accident-prone areas, which shall be addressed and corrected within the next 12 to 18 months. We have geo-tagged locations of all healthcare facilities situated along highways to facilitate quick transportation of patients for medical care,” said a senior official, Telangana region, NHAI.
At present, the NHAI mandates all toll plazas or locations within a 50-60 km radius to be equipped with an ambulance and towing vehicle to immediately attend to accidents. They are expected to wheel the patient into the nearest hospital available.
When TOI visited two toll plazas recently — NH 65 in Nalgonda and NH 163 in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri — it found both ambulances and staff stationed. But the staff here aired a different challenge: being denied admission by pvt hospitals if victims aren’t accompanied by an attendant.
Incidentally, NH 65 is one of the ‘deadliest’ highways, with it recording at least two to three deaths a day. The most hazardous section spans 30 km on this NH between Hayathnagar and Choutuppal, where 121 fatalities have occurred during 2023-24. Choutuppal stretch, designated as a black spot, witnesses one death a week.
When health officials were informed about private hospitals turning away critical cases, they emphasised that these facilities must accept such patients without any conditions. “We will send strict directives to superintendents of private healthcare centres located near highways that handle frequent road accident cases in the district and ensure that they do not deny the admission in the absence of any attendant,” said P Srinivas, district medical & health officer, Nalgonda.
There’s another challenge: NHAI’s helpline (1033), which only supports Hindi, poses challenges for accident victims, as it lacks IVR support in regional languages to communicate their problems on highways, making it difficult to report accidents and vehicle breakdowns effectively.
On the other hand, Subroto Das, a Padma Shri recipient recognised for his Highway Trauma Care initiatives, who established Lifeline Foundation with his wife Sushmita following their survival from a severe highway accident in 1999, highlighted that most toll plazas in the country are inadequately equipped with skilled first-aid personnel, whilst both ambulance services and trauma care facilities remain substandard.
“The highways lack properly certified emergency medical technicians in ambulances, with many staff members being employed without appropriate qualifications and essential life-saving skills. Moreover, patients are often taken to primary health centres and govt hospitals that lack crucial diagnostic equipment such as MRI and CT scan machines for assessing trauma severity. In fatal highway accidents, 50% of victims die on the spot, while 30% succumb while being shifted to hospital. These fatalities could be significantly reduced through proper first-aid administration and swift transfer to well-equipped medical facilities,” Subroto Das told TOI.