Emergency care labs in colleges soon

HYDERABAD: The NTR University of Health Sciences has written to the state government asking for for funds of Rs 20 lakh each to all 10 government medical colleges, for setting up skill development labs for teaching emergency care.Speaking to mediamen on Sunday, university registrar T Venugopal Rao said setting up of the labs may materialise by the next academic year as the state government has responded positively to their proposal.He said they decided to set up the skill labs after the Andhra Pradesh Medical Graduates Association in USA gave a demonstration to students and professionals on using the mannequins during a programme conducted at the Gandhi Medical College recently.The mannequins or lifesized dolls have simulated airways which are used in teaching first aid, CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and airway management skills along with computer simulation to model the behaviour of human body. At present, no medical college in the state, except a few corporate hospitals use mannequins, said Venugopal Rao. The cost of each mannequin ranges from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 65 lakh.The principal of Gandhi Medical College, Dr K Venkatesh has said the mannequins would help the faculty in teaching emergency care to students in a proper way. He also said they have written to the Medical Council of India asking permission to set up a MD course in Emergency Care from the academic year of 201314."MCI officials are going to visit the college soon and there would be no hurdles in getting permission to start the course, as we have all the required facilities and infrastructure," Dr Venkatesh said.