Trauma Centre for Accident Victims
1 person dies every 4 minutes on Indian roads
CMC’s Department of Trauma Surgery has shifted to a new and advanced facility in CMC Vellore Ranipet Campus. Located on the busy National Highway between Chennai and Bengaluru, this Level-1 Trauma Care Centre includes state-of-the-art ICUs, Operation Theatres, Radiology Suite and 112 Trauma Beds. A new trauma centre for accident victims will help reduce deaths and disabilities by giving excellent care to those who come to us.
We are very grateful to our friends and well-wishers all over the world for your prayers, generous contributions and support.
Trauma Surgery shifts to new and advanced facilities in Ranipet Campus
Why we need a Trauma Centre
The rest of this page will tell you about the trauma centre and why we need it for accident victims. We want to finish the hospital in order to help prevent deaths and disabilities here in Tamil Nadu.
Three Hospitals turn away Ayesha: read her story here
One evening, Ayesha* was travelling with her family in Andhra Pradesh. Tired from a long day, the 35-year old leaned against the window of the bus and fell asleep. Within the next few seconds, her life took a shocking turn.
The speeding bus collided with a lorry. Ayesha was crushed in her seat. Her frantic family managed to pull her out of the bus. But, she was unconscious and covered in blood. She did not open her eyes or respond to them. Many hours later she regained consciousness. The pain on her right side was unbearable. Her right arm and hand were severely damaged.
“My family rushed me to four different hospitals,”
“With my face and arm bleeding profusely, my family rushed me to four different hospitals,”
she recalls.
“Three hospitals refused to admit me. They said I needed to go to a bigger hospital.”
The fourth hospital was able to stitch the wounds on her face but the doctors said they could not save her arm. They told her family to go to a bigger hospital in Chennai or Vellore.
The next day, Ayesha’s family brought her to the Accident and Emergency department in CMC Vellore. Sadly, it was too late to save her right arm and the doctors had to amputate. Ayesha was traumatised by the accident and the loss of her right arm. This was compounded by the need to stay in CMC Vellore for two weeks
“I have never been away from my one-year-old baby for so long”
she says, her eyes filling with tears as she talks about her son.
Ayesha is recovering and adapting to her new way of life without her right arm. She started occupational therapy to help adapt to a new life with just one arm. They helped her learn how to use her left hand for day-to-day activities. In future, she hopes to get a prosthetic right arm. Though Ayesha has lost a limb, she has not lost her courage and positive spirit.
“I am an accountant with two years of experience. I want get back to my job and my normal life,” she says proudly.
“My husband is my biggest support.
He will always be my right hand.”
1,200 road accidents a day.
India sees 1,200 road accidents every day. This results in more than 370 deaths per day. And Trauma is now the leading cause of death among young people, 5 to 29 year olds.
The Hindu reports: 53 road crashes, 17 deaths per hour in 2018:
Annual government report.
Although government statistics indicate that road accident rates have been coming down in Tamil Nadu, CMC has recorded a steep increase in trauma cases received in our hospital.
57% of Accident victims are on 2-wheelers
CMC has found that 57% of the Road Traffic Accident (RTA) victims brought into our Emergency Department were riding 2-wheelers. Many of these injuries could have been reduced.
CMC wants to reduce Deaths and Disabilities
You can reduce Motorbike related trauma, especially head injuries, by wearing a helmet. So, not wearing your helmet can be a grave mistake. It can mean the difference between life and death. Between a full recovery and disability.
At CMC we are determined to reduce the number of fatalities and disabilities resulting from such accidents. However, our current Accident and Emergency unit, at the main CMC hospital in the centre of Vellore, is full and overflowing.
We don’t want to turn anyone away, but have no space or resources to help everyone. Currently, families will have to travel 140 km to Chennai or beyond to find a hospital with similar services to CMC’s.
CMC Vellore Ranipet Campus – Trauma Centre
Our new Advanced Trauma Care Centre will be for Accident Victims. It will be at the CMC Vellore Ranipet Campus (Kannigapuram).
This will have:
- 1500 beds
- Many different specialities
- Teaching facilities
Ranipet Campus is on the busy national highway, almost halfway between Chennai and Bengaluru. It will be the ONLY Level 1 Trauma Centre on that busy road. So Kannigapuram will be ideally situated to help accident victims.
Click on the image above of the New Trauma Centre to view our Trauma Care Brochure.
This video will walk you through what our new trauma centre will look like. Then have a look at what our accident and emergency looks like now.
However, we can’t do this alone. We are seeking partners who can join us in caring for severely injured people. As a generous individual or a Company through CSR and other philanthropic initiatives, you can help us save lives!
The Needs of the Hour
Here are some of the equipment and services we need and their costs.
₹ 20,000
for the Golden Hour fund for One Patient
₹ 40,000
for one General Ward Cot/Bed including furniture
₹ 1,00,000
48hr ICU care for one patient
₹ 1 Crore
for a digital X-Ray Suite
The ‘Golden Hour’ Fund
After a road traffic accident, every minute counts. The Golden Hour is the critical period within which timely action can prevent death and disability. We want to be able to give the care needed to every patient during this time, whether they have the funds to pay or not. You can help. Donate to the Golden Hour Fund and you can help save a life.
Prevention is Better than Cure
Raju* is a 14-year old school student. His parents are daily wage coolies. They live in a village outside Vellore.
One day, Raju and his sister took a ride on his father’s motorbike. He did not have a driver’s license. Neither of them wore helmets. Driving on the busy national highway, Raju lost control of the bike. They crashed into a truck and both children were thrown off the bike.
They were rushed to the Accident & Emergency Department of CMC. Raju had suffered a spinal cord injury. This left his legs & arms completely paralysed. He lost all ability to walk, stand or even move his hands and legs. His sister had multiple fractures that needed surgery.
Raju is now completely dependent on his parents. His mother had to stop working to feed, bathe and care for him. To ease the financial burden on the family, his father tried for compensation. He was told that as a teenage driver, he was not eligible for compensation and could be penalized for violating traffic regulations. The family is struggling to make ends meet and look after their teenage children.
Despite the excellent clinical care and treatment he received at CMC, Raju’s future is uncertain. When he took his father’s motorbike out, he did not think he was breaking traffic rules. He did not think twice about wearing a helmet or getting one for his sister.
Narrated by S Guru Nagarajan, Social Worker, Rehabilitation Institute, CMC
“If only we could teach our children to value rules and safety.
Prevention is always better than cure.”
*names changed
Project Helmet
We want to stop accidents like Raju’s. So CMC has outreach work in Road Safety and Injury Prevention.
Our community-based rehabilitation team reaches out to 500 school children and college students every year. They use workshops, games, role plays and case studies. Teaching them how to safely walk and drive on our roads. Young people meet and interact with patients and families affected by RTAs.
As part of this program, we train our youth to spread the word on road safety so they too become agents for social change!
Things YOU can do
There are many things that YOU can do that will keep you and your family safe. And may even save someone else’s life. We have a few ideas here, learn about pedestrian safety, driver safety and CPR. Jump to the details below.
- Pedestrian Safety – walk safely on the road,
- Driver Safety – how to drive safely
- Learn CPR – what to do if someones heart or breathing stops.
Pedestrian Safety
The project teaches the children safe ways to walk on and cross our roads. Here are some of those tips on road safety that you can also use:
- Walk facing the traffic.
- Find a safe place to cross a road and stop.
- Look left and right, then left again. When it is safe to cross you can start walking.
- Keep looking left and right as you cross.
- Do not use mobiles while crossing the road.
- Carry a torch, or use the torch on your mobile, while walking in the dark. You can see the road better and, more importantly, the cars and bikes can see you!
Driver Safety
- Always wear a seat belt in a car or van/lorry.
- Drivers and passengers on a bike must always wear a helmet.
- Don’t drink alcohol and drive.
- Don’t use mobiles while driving.
- Speed thrills but kills. So drive slowly!
Learn CPR and save a life
A common cause of road accident death is a blocked respiratory pathway. It takes less than four minutes for a blocked airway to cause death.
But, if you do CPR within the critical four minutes, you could save a life.
CPR is cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Try to find somewhere locally where you can learn CPR and other first aid treatments.
See our Emergency department
Watch a short video from 2014 showing the challenges of the Accident and Emergency department at the CMC Vellore Town Campus. More accident and emergency beds have been provided since then. But more patients come to the department – so we still need new facilities.
Video: Urgent need for care for accident victims
Help Build our Trauma Centre
Please help us finish building the Trauma Centre for Accident Victims at Kannigapuram and Donate here.
Tax Relief Under S.80G
You can get tax relief on donations under S.80G. See here for more details.
Thank you
