MALAPPURAM: The Malappuram District Trauma Care (MDTC) will launch its units in all the 34 police stations in the district. It is run by a group of volunteers who have been engaged in rescue operations at accident sites in the district for a decade. Each unit will have a 30- member team of trained and well-equipped volunteers who will respond to accidents and calamities in their respective areas.
The MDTC has started scouting for volunteers from various parts of the district. “The volunteers will be given training to handle emergency situations like road accidents, fire and natural calamities by safety and medical experts,” says K.P. Pratheesh, general secretary. It has already set up its functional units under 18 police stations. The organisation has trained around 28,100 volunteers in the district in the past 11 years.
The majority of them are common people and they have got special training from National Disaster Response Force, Fire and Rescue Service and Coast Guards besides the police. “We have enormous support from the district administration and district police,” Pratheesh said. The district has the highest rate of grievous injuries and deaths in road mishaps in the state and so MDTC focuses on road accidents. Last year, the district witnessed 2,882 road accidents in which 367 people died, as per a report of the ministry of road transport.
The MDTC also has a special team of divers who help in search operations during flash floods and drowning cases. They will soon get advanced training in scuba diving. It recently constituted a well-trained force meant for rescue operations during natural disasters. The team members aged between 18 and 35 are given continuous physical training while other volunteers get it only once in a year, Pratheesh said.
