Haryana still miles to go in trauma care on highways

While the BJP government is out promising new highways and expressways in the state, little thought has been spared to the absent trauma services which have converted majority of them into killer stretches.

According to the data of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Indian highways see over 100,000 fatalities in accidents at an average of 11 deaths every hour and the national and state highways account for 60 per cent of these deaths.

In Haryana, national highways account for 40 per cent of the total fatalities. The state stands fourth in the number of fatal accidents on highways. Contrary to its consistent promises, the BJP government sworn in for the third consecutive term has failed to implement the ambitious ‘safe highways project’ announced by then CM Manohar Lal Khattar in 2022.

Expressways found wanting

The toll concessionaire is required to have a trauma ambulance at every alternate toll gate or within a range of 25 km. Sadly, the facilities continue to be absent on major expressways and what adds to the irony is that majority of black spots are as far as 40 km from the nearest trauma centre.

Revamped trauma care soon

We do realise the lapses and have thus ordered every single medical college in the state to have a trauma centre. We are looking into plans of upgrading existent government facilities to have basic trauma care in case of districts with no medical colleges. Concessionaires, if bound by norms, will have their medical facilities, including trauma care, in place on all highways. -- Arti Rao, Health Minister

According to a 2023 road safety survey conducted by the state Health Ministry, 45 per cent of lives were lost in accidents owing to the lack of proper trauma care during the ‘golden hour’ -- first hour following a traumatic injury -- when prompt medical treatment is most likely to save life.

While both the toll concessionaire and the state is responsible for providing quality trauma care, both seem to be lacking majorly. The worst impacted is the city of expressways, Gurugram, which is surrounded by KMP, Dwarka Expressway, NH-8 (Jaipur Expressway) and Delhi Mumbai expressway. Out of these in 2023, NH-8 proved to be biggest killer highway in Gurugram as it accounted for 35 per cent of all road deaths.

As per the norms, the expressways need to have round-the-clock trauma centres with well-equipped ambulances. The number of these depends on stretch of the expressway. The toll concessionaire is required to have a trauma ambulance at every alternate toll gate or within a range of 25 km. Sadly, the facilities continue to be absent on these major expressways and what adds to the irony is that majority of black spots are as far as 40 km from the nearest trauma centre.

“The BJP has mindlessly laid the web of highways but they lack facilities. The speed limit has been set at 120-200 km, which obviously creates a danger of accident but no thought has been given to trauma centres. Majority of hospitals and medical colleges do not have trauma centres even after 10 years of their rule. The toll concessionaire is just collecting money and the government sits with its eyes shut,” said Congress MLA from Nuh Aftab Ahmed.