In an ambitious project to augment the health services in the country, the Union government will equip the Golden Quadrangle with effective health care facilities in the form of extensive trauma care project. The State sharing a considerable part of the Quadrangle would benefit by the plan. The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Anbumani Ramadoss, on a visit to the State to address the convention of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA), announced this at a press conference today. The convention was held at Veterinary Ground, Khanapara. On the highways coming under the Golden Quadrangle, extensive trauma care project worth Rs 750 crore would be launched. Under this project, one trauma care centre would be established at every 100 kilometre to respond to any emergency situation. At every 300 km, special trauma care centre would be set up, and at every 500 km super-speciality trauma care centres would be established with advanced infrastructure. This apart, a PCO would be set up at every five kilometres and an ambulance would be placed at every 50 km distance on the Quadrangle. Regarding the basic health care in the tea gardens of the State, the Union Minister assured that the health of workers in the tea garden would not suffer due to the demand of the garden owners to cut social cost spent on the labourers, which include expenditure on doctors and medicine. "In the public private partnership mode (PPP), the garden authorities have been asked to hire doctors to pay regular visits to the tea estate hospitals, the expenditure of which would be borne by the Union government,' said Ramadoss. The Union Health Minister lauding the efforts of his State counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Assam is leading from the front in many health care facilities including the revival of the government medical colleges, and progress made in rural health care programme has also been satisfactory. In another major development, the State Health Department signed an MoU with the Hyderabad-based institute Emergency Medical Research Institute to launch a State-wide emergency ambulance service with 280 vehicles equipped with advanced life-support system. By just dialling the toll free no 108, one could avail this facility. The special ambulance service with ventilation is expected to provide better services during the time of any emergency, providing the required first-aid in the van itself, before transferring the patients to hospitals. In the first phase, 63 ambulances would arrive in the State and the rest will come in the final phase by March 2009. Expressing his grave concern over higher rate of cancer prevalence in the region the Union Minister called upon all the Chief Ministers of NE to launch a war against tobacco and create more awareness among the common people. Addressing the ASHA gathering, Ramadoss asked the State government to further strengthen the support it is extending to the ASHAs by ensuring that all such health activists are mandatorily trained, provided with drug kits to be replenished in a timely manner. He also asked the State government to check whether the incentives are provided to them timely and "handholding mechanism' is functional right down to the PHC level. The government is also thinking about purchasing bicycles, if required by ASHA for performing duties. State Government has already decided to provide 7,000 free mobile connections to ANM nurses, doctors and district administration officials for expediting faster flow of health-related information and to ensure better coordination during emergency situations.