The government today launched National Emergency Life Support (NELS) courses for doctors, nurses and paramedics.
Apart from the training modules, the programme includes developing training infrastructure in all states/UTs to implement the NELS course and creating a cadre of trainers to train doctors, nurses and paramedics working in emergency departments of the hospitals and ambulance services.
Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Bharati Pravin Pawar said that till now, health care professionals in the country had to rely on foreign modules and paid courses which were not only expensive but were also limited in scope to a handful of emergencies without considering needs and priorities of the people. “Therefore, realising the Prime Minister’s policy of ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, the NELS provides a standardised curriculum which is based on Indian context and developed in India”, she stated.
Pawar highlighted that the government is committed to the continuous strengthening of delivery of Covid-19 and non-Covid essential health services, with the medium to a long-term goal of enhancing preparedness capacities to manage medical emergencies and thus minimise the Sloss of precious lives.
She noted that the Prime Minister has always emphasised the need for providing affordable and best quality health services to the citizens. ”It is the need of the hour that India embarks on creating a world-class, efficient, professional and integrated system, enabled by technology, for the care of any victim of an accident, emergency or trauma in any part of the country,” she added.
Talking about the National Health Policy of 2017, she said that it envisaged the creation of a unified emergency response system, linked to a dedicated universal access number, with a network of emergency care, provision of life support ambulances and trauma management centres.
The minister further added, “To keep pace with technological advancement advancements, parallel efforts are needed for human resource development by equipping doctors, nurses and paramedics working in emergency departments of hospitals. The training should also be imparted to those providing pre-hospital care with standardized life-saving skills, to minimize mortality due to all types of medical emergencies in the country.”