CBRN facility to become a reality soon

Visakhapatnam: After a long wait, approval for a secondary level Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) medical management centre gained momentum as a memorandum of understanding was entered between the Andhra Pradesh government and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Even as Visakhapatnam is considered as an industrial hub of the state, a number of industrial accidents continue to occur in the undivided Visakhapatnam district. With no proper treatment reaching out to the victims in time, fatalities remain to grow.

To keep a check on this, the Central government is setting up a secondary level Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Medical Management Centre in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

So far, when major disasters or accidents used to happen in industries in and around Visakhapatnam, victims were air-lifted to different states for quality healthcare and to save lives.

But with the first of its kind centre coming at Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) premises, there is a larger chance for saving the lives of the patients as the advanced facility will provide quality treatment to them. This is the only centre to be established in the Telugu states.

The Central government selected 10 states in the country and identified sites to set up CBRN Medical Management Centre. Visakhapatnam has been spotted as one of the sites in Andhra Pradesh.

Of the 10 states selected, eight states have submitted their proposals to the Union government to set up the centre.

However, the project did not take off in the past five years and now with the MoU signed, the much-awaited centre is going to be a reality soon.

Sharing the advantages of the centre with The Hans India, director of VIMS K Rambabu says the facility would serve as a quality healthcare centre and cater to the emergency needs of the patients across North Andhra. “Facilitating the centre at VIMS will aid in providing quality medical care to the injured. Setting up of the centre will also be completed in a time-bound manner as the government is keen on making it operational at the earliest,” the director says.

In times of disasters, the centre will not only provide quality medical care to the victims but also help treat pandemic-hit patients. In VIMS, adequate facilities will be made available to provide advanced medical care related to chemical, biological and radiological accidents, barring nuclear accidents. A special building will be established in the VIMS premises for the purpose. Specialised doctors and supporting staff will be appointed at the state-of-the-art facility.