A growing number of emergencies and a need for full-time staff has prompted the authorities at the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute to seek a dedicated department for critical care.

The Trauma and Emergency Care Centre at Victoria Hospital, a unit under Victoria Hospital, currently sees most of the critical cases.

However, with the growing number of patients and increased referral to this centre, experts have found a need to have a dedicated critical care department with experts in the field.

They have sought for at least 10 doctors, dedicated only for the emergency cases. This would include critical care specialists, anaesthetists and doctors of medicine.

“There is a severe shortage of critical care experts in the state. There are very few doctors trained in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) operations. For a hospital of our size, we need a dedicated team of experts,” said a senior doctor from the hospital.

At present, the hospital is run with the help of staff from Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, who take turns to attend to cases. This way, 50 doctors are on duty in the hospital in a day.

Inaugurated in 2015, the trauma care centre sees about 60,000 cases a year. “From accidents to poisoning and snake bites, we see several kinds of emergencies,” the doctor said.

If the proposal is accepted, the critical care department would be set up under the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute and would have staff only to attend emergency cases. “Gradually, we will seek permission from the Medical Council of India to have the medical education and research parts included in it,” said a source.

Shortage of nurses

Going by the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers standards, the trauma care centre needs 280 nurses. At present, the hospital has 180 nurses and needs 100 more. However, it has got approval to recruit 50 nurses.

The hospital has 38 ICU beds, 10 neurotrauma beds, 18 beds in the main ICU, eight in the annexe and two Isolation.