Under the 'Saving Lives' project set up jointly by the Rotary Club of Birmingham,UK, Rotary Club of Pune Central and Sancheti Hospital, a plan to start a training centre at Sancheti for emergency medical services is on.

University Hospital, Birmingham and Royal college of Surgeons, Edinburgh, have approved two short courses for training paramedics, doctors and nurses. The project would also induct other hospitals like KEM in the field of pre-hospital care, trauma and disaster management.

The Lord Mayor of Birmingham Council John Alden and international project director Dr Peter Patel told newspersons that the reason for selecting Pune along with Goa, Surat, Jamnagar and Indore was its proximity to the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the city has the fifth highest number of road accidents in the country.

They further said that the experiment with the Ruby Hall Clinic a few years ago in which six nurses and a paramedic were trained abroad was restricted only to a single institution. Patel noted that although the project was successfully completed, it could not be spread to the entire city.

Dwelling on the training centre he said the centre would provide training to persons providing EMS for victims of road accidents.

The courses in pre-hospital care and immediate medical care will take off in September. However, the number of ambulances to be added would be assessed later, said Dr Patel.