Jammu, Jun 5: Stating that the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is a multi-hazard prone region with natural disasters, Executive Director and CEO AIIIMS Jammu, Dr Shakti Gupta on Monday said that the institution has proposed the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Trauma Sciences and an Institute of Traumatology in AIIMS Vijaypur (Samba District)—popularly called as Jammu AIIMS.
“The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is a multi-hazard prone region with natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, landslides, avalanches, high-velocity winds and snowstorms, besides man-made disasters including road accidents, fires, and terrorist attacks,” Dr Shakti Gupta said.
He said that the Jammu AIIMS is in the process of establishing trauma services and a Center of Excellence has already been approved as a component of the hospital.
“The high incidence of trauma-related casualties including those from incidents of mass casualties will have to be efficiently managed at AIIMS, Jammu,” said the CEO.
Dr Gupta said that trauma is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and it is the fifth leading cause of death regardless of age and the first leading cause of death in the young population below 44 years of age and India ranks first in the number of road accident deaths across the 199 countries reported in the World Road Statistics, 2018.
“In order to mitigate and effectively manage trauma cases, there is a requirement to establish an Institute of Traumatology which will be the first of its kind and Center of Excellence so that the people not only from the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir but also from other parts of India and neighbouring countries will get benefitted,” he said.
He said that the Jammu AIIMS will have one of the biggest trauma centres for which the authorities have written to the Union Health Ministry for signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Israel’s Sheba Medical Centre.
Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer is the largest hospital in Israel, located in the TelAviv District city of Ramat Gan and was ranked as the 9th-best hospital in the world in 2020.
The proposal will be referred to the Union Ministry of External Affairs and Home Affairs for further approval, he added.
“Such a center would provide telemedicine facilities to far-flung and difficult terrains in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the Country,” said Dr Gupta.
He stated that all facets including prevention, clinical management, training (including simulations), skill development and skill up-gradation of various categories, data analysis, trauma registry, research, aero-medical evacuations and post-trauma rehabilitation will be incorporated in the trauma services.
“Since the systemic and specialised trauma care in India was almost non-existent till a decade back and now some development has been made in the recent past. The scope and level of institutional facilities for imparting and establishing such trauma care services are not available in India at present,” the CEO AIIMS said, adding that this Institute will be one of the most comprehensive and advanced hospitals in the world and a leading center of medical research.
“This will be the first traumatology institute of its kind to be opened in the country at Vijaypur AIIMS and with the strengthening of trauma management, critical patients not only from Jammu and Kashmir but also from Leh, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh will get direct medical benefits,” he added.
After the MoU, not only medical staff from Jammu AIIMS will be sent to Israel for trauma management training but experts from Sheba Medical Center will also regularly visit here in strengthening trauma management operations, which will surely benefit the patients, the official added.
It will be renowned for its commitment to clinical excellence and compassionate patient-centered care, applying the most advanced technologies and medical innovations.
“It will collaborate with prominent medical institutions and universities around the world, working in close synergy with leaders in the medical field and with high-tech innovators to develop new medical technologies,” he revealed.
It would be a great success for the Country as this specialized Center of Excellence will be functioning on a systems approach for providing efficient trauma care facilities, Dr Gupta said adding, “it will be a regional and a national medical facility for effective day-to-day functioning as well as in times of disaster management of mass casualties requiring effective trauma care in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, other parts of India and also neighbouring countries.”
Notably, as per 2022, J&K Traffic Police Report, there were 6092 road traffic accidents, which injured 8372 people and killed 805 people while there were 595 terrorist incidents and 58 bomb blasts/grenade attacks during the year 2020 in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, leading to a total of 158 injuries and 320 deaths. “These facts amply depict that there is a very high incidence of morbidity and mortality due to trauma cases including road traffic accidents, and require a holistic approach to be adopted for their reduction,” said Dr Gupta.
The Jammu AIIMS, likely to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October this year, will become operational with 50 departments established in 42 blocks.
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