The Tirupattur district health officials said that there is no plan to close the existing Emergency Care Centre at the Upgraded Primary Healthcare Centre (UPHC) in Madhanur near Ambur on the Chennai - Bengaluru Highway (NH 44).
The assurance from the health officials comes after residents in the neighbourhood have been up in arms for the past few days on learning that the facility might be shut down. They even gherroed the facility a day ago on Thursday in protest against the proposed closure before the health officials and the local police personnel pacified them. Health officials on condition of anonymity said that there was a discussion to merge the facility with the nearest government general hospital in Ambur. However, they said there was no written communication on it so far.
Among 37 PHCs in the district, the upgraded PHC at Madhanur is the only facility that has the emergency care centre. As the PHC is located on the Bengaluru highway, the emergency centre was set up mainly to cater to accident victims as the nearest Government District Headquarters Hospital in Tirupattur where the facility is available is around 60 km away. On the other hand, on average, 15-20 persons, mostly snake bite and accident victims, were getting treated at the centre every day.
“During night, it is difficult to shift accident victims to Tirupattur or Vellore for treatment. The emergency centre at Madhanur remains a lifeline for residents between these big towns,” said S. Kathiravan, a resident.
Most of these centres are located on the national highways in the State. The aim is to reduce the time taken to rush the injured to facilities for treatment. The time taken to shift the injured to the centre, from the accident spot, will be lesser compared to the time it takes to move them to a hospital. “The plan to close the emergency centre at the PHC might not be true as we did not got any written communication on it,” Dr. Senthil Kumar, Deputy Director of Health Services (DDHS), Tirupattur, told The Hindu.
