The Akhilesh Yadav Government has taken a step forward to announce setting up of at least 28 trauma centres in Uttar Pradesh on PPP model. The decision come close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposal to inaugurate a trauma centre in his Varanasi parliamentary constituency during his visit on Thursday.
Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan told The Pioneer here on Wednesday that diagonistic labs and dialysis units would also be set on the PPP model. “This will go in a long way in reducing the cost of diagonistic tests.”, Ranjan added.
The increasing rate of road accidents in the state mainly on the highways has prompted the Government to set up trauma centres mostly on the highways. Of these 28 trauma centers, 16 would start within next three months time while the remaining 12 would be inaugurated later this year of in early 2016. Trauma centers in 16 districts would be completed and within next three months they would get the required staff to run these Centers. At present, UP has only one trauma center that too in lucknow while another one is working at BHU in Varanasi which will be formally inaugurated by Prime minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.
In UP 16,000 people die in road accidents of which 80 per cent succumb to their injuries due to delay in getting medical attention. Of the 16 trauma centers where work has completed , six are funded by the Central government while rest 10 are of the state government. Centre has provided Rs 65 lakhs for the building and Rs 3 crores for the equipment while UP government has provided Rs 2 crore for the building and Rs 4 crore for the equipment.
Sources said the Central’s trauma centers would be at Faizabad, Basti, Jalaun, Etawah, Fatehpur and lalitpur while of the state run centers would be at Kanpur, Barabanki, Hardoi, Azamgarh, Bulandshahr, Sonebhadra, Banda, Unnao, Sultanpur and Ballia.
Meanwhile, 12 other trauma centers were also under construction which is being funded by the UP government. These are situated at Jhansi, Aligarh, Hapur, Moradabad, Sitapur, Hathras, Mirzapur, lakhimpur Kheri, Kanpur Dehat, Jaunpur, Muzaffarnagar and Allahabad.
Spelling out the priorities of the Akhilesh Yadav Government, the Chief Secretary said completion of infrastructure projects, construction of roads, highways and focus on the energy sector were among the prime ones. Discussing the role of bureaucracy, Ranjan said by and large the officers were supporting the Government. However, some voices of discontent are being raised among the bureaucrats on the functioning of some ministers.
Commenting on the law and order situation in the state, the Chief Secretary said efforts were being made to one up the situation. As such Superintendents of Police in the state have been made accountable for crime in their districts. In addition to this steps are being taken to solve land disputes since they are the main cause of spurt in the rate of crime. Strict monitoring is being carried out on the crime front.