ICMR begins work on project to develop advanced emergency care systems

Bhubaneswar: The ICMR started work for the National Health Research Priority Project, aiming to develop advanced emergency care systems, including immediate treatment of heart attack or brain stroke patients, officials said on Wednesday.

As a pilot, the project will be taken up in five places — Puri (Odisha), Ludhiana (Punjab), Vidisha (Madhya Pradesh), Vadodara (Gujarat), and Pondicherry, they said.

A three-day national consultation conference, involving the stakeholders, was held at AIIMS-Bhubaneswar to fix the modalities of the project, they said.

The project work was formally launched in Puri from the conference that concluded on Tuesday.

While ICMR will fund the project, AIIMS-Bhubaneswar will provide technical support and the state government will take care of the logistics and manpower.

The project is aimed at enhancing emergency care by improving logistics, boosting healthcare provider competencies, integrating IT and AI tools, and mapping facilities, AIIMS-Bhubaneswar Executive Director doctor Ashutosh Biswas said.

The key components of the project include improving ambulance services, increasing community demand, and training first-level responders, he said.

“The project will address seven critical emergencies — heart attack, brain stroke, trauma, snake bite, poisoning, respiratory emergencies, and neonatal and maternal emergencies,” he added.

A research team, led by AIIMS-Bhubaneswar additional professor doctor Arvind Kumar Singh, has been formed to develop and implement this model in collaboration with the state government, officials said.