Rescuing victims of highway bus accidents, saving lives trapped in mangled vehicles and rushing people to the nearest hospital is a mammoth job. But it is one that has to be quick and within the crucial ‘golden hour’ if the victim has to be saved.

To help with this important task, the Bangalore-based Comprehensive Trauma Consortium (CTC) has planned a unique initiative. It will soon train the 10,000 plus drivers of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) in basic paramedic care and make them rescue savvy.

CTC Chief Co-ordinator Gururaj told Deccan Herald that all the drivers will be trained at its Paramedic Research Institute for Management of Emergencies (PRIME).

Huge dearth

“There is a huge dearth of trained paramedics in the country, let alone Bangalore. The idea is to prepare drivers of public sector corporations to handle accident/disaster emergencies in times of accidents,” he said.
The latest highway accident involving a KSRTC bus on February 4 killed five and injured 15 when it rammed into a stationary lorry near Nelamangala.

“Our rescue missions on highways use the ‘Mass Casualty Wagon’ that can accommodate more than ten injured passengers. Though we have 45 ambulances attached to the CTC, there is still need for more of them,” explained Mr Gururaj.

Sanjeevani hotline

The CTC 24/7 Sanjeevini hotline ‘1062’ receives about 1,000 rescue calls a month. Having carried out 49,576 lives since its inception in 2000, it has brought down the pre-hospital death rate to less than three per cent in 2008 from a whopping 32 per cent in March 2000.

“Bangalore City alone makes up for the highest number of rescues, 1953 in total. We also have an arrangement with Deccan Aviation for an air ambulance facility. CTC ‘Disha’ also provides blood through a tie-up with TTK, Rotary and Manipal for emergencies” Mr Gururaj said.

Cranes for divisions

To deal with accident emergencies, KSRTC is providing a heavy duty crane each to all its 13 divisions across the State within the next two months.

This, the State-run corporation feels will not only equip the respective depots/divisions to combat accident emergencies, but also make them less dependent on outside help during an accident. KSRTC Director (Security and Vigilance), M A Saleem said, at present only three heavy duty cranes function at the Bangalore, Mangalore and Hassan depots.

“We plan to provide ‘Wreckers’ which are specialised cranes equipped to cut through the mangled buses involved in accidents, to all the 60 depots spread across 13 KSRTC bus divisions of the State. Each of such vehicles cost Rs 14 lakh,” he said.