Dr. Sunithi Solomon, Professor of Microbiology, Madras Medical College and the first to discover the AIDS virus in India in 1986, started this service in the year 1996 and till date the non profit organisation has saved over 7200 lives in the city of Chennai.
R. Hariharan, the operations-in-charge of Trauma Care Consortium explained their services in detail “We have 13 ambulances stationed at various points in the city including the East Coast Road and the NH 45. When we receive a phone call about an accident that has occurred we divert the nearest ambulance to that location. We move the victim to the nearest government hospital or private hospital depending on the affordability and preference of the victim. If the victim is suffering from a head injury or is unconscious then we take them to the Government General Hospital. Our contact number is 2815 0700. We have also been allotted a five digit non metered number 12703 by the Central Government that is reachable from any bsnl land line. All our ambulances have wireless facility and have a team of paramedics with first aid equipments. We also have a wireless in the police control tower, so if anybody calls 103 for police help that information gets diverted to us.
The ambulances that are plying have been donated by organisations like the Rotary Club of Madras, M/s Ford India and Lions Club and individuals also. We are a team of about 40 people including paramedics, drivers and people working in our control tower, where we receive information about the accident. We also run ambulance services for patients to be moved from home to hospitals or vice versa to generate some revenue for working expenses. We run insurance schemes as we are tied up with The New India Assurance Co Ltd covering all nature of accidents. We were the first to introduce cashless arrangement with hospitals for those who have opted for our insurance schemes at a nominal fee of Rs. 495 per annum. The members shall be covered by medical insurance anywhere in India for hospitalisation expenses following accidents of any nature for Rs.50,000 and Rs. 1 lakh for life.”
Mr. Hariharan stressed, “We are trying our level best to create awareness of our services, but we require a lot of monetary support. We also want to make it very clear that we do not have a caller id in our control tower and we don’t trace caller information. All we want is the accident site so that we can reach there quickly to save a life. We are networked with about 15 hospitals in the city that are willing to provide immediate medical care to these people before the next course of action can be taken.”
The good work has reached far and wide and a team of paramedics from York Region, EMS Canada have been imparting training to the paramedics team of Trauma Care Consortium for the past few years, coming all the way from across the globe. Trauma Care Consortium’s ambulances interestingly are named after flowers and they carry the fragrance of hope to those who are badly in need of it, when victimised in a road accident. The tragedy of losing a friend was experienced by a noble soul and she paved the way to start a service in order to save other people from experiencing the same pain. A unique service, it is the first of its kind in India and they work round the clock tirelessly, offering a helping hand, just in time to save precious human lives.
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