Bengaluru Rural MP meets Sitharaman, urges sanction of 300-bed polytrauma centre at NIMHANS

The polytrauma centre would ensure timely treatment of needy patients at an affordable cost, C N Manjunath said in the memorandum.

New Delhi: Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha member C N Manjunath on Tuesday urged the Centre to accord sanction for establishing a 300-bed polytrauma centre at NIMHANS Bengaluru North campus.

Manjunath met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and submitted a memorandum in this regard.

The polytrauma centre would ensure timely treatment of needy patients at an affordable cost, he said in the memorandum.

"The finance minister positively responded to the plea and assured me that she will look into the issue," Manjunath told reporters here.

Pointing out that the outpatient footfall at NIMHANS, the country’s premier mental health institution, has increased from around 250 patients a day to 2,500 a day now, he said the hospital was overcrowded and was not able to cope with the load of patients.

Road traffic accidents are the fifth leading cause of death in our country. Patients with multiple injuries require immediate treatment in the golden hour. Nearly 13 per cent of deaths are due to road traffic accidents. Because of space constraints and the non-availability of polytrauma services, critical patients are shifted from NIMHANS to other hospitals,” the Lok Sabha member told reporters.

“It is the long-standing desire of the people of Karnataka to have a polytrauma centre at NIMHANS North campus in Bengaluru. In this regard, the state government has already allotted 37 acres of land and the above proposal has been approved by the governing body. But it has not seen the light of the day for almost 11 years,” he said.

“The detailed project report (DPR) has also been submitted to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the approximate estimated expenditure will be Rs 498 crore,” he added.