COLUMBIA--Legislation to improve funding for the state's trauma centers was introduced Wed-nesday. The bill would set up an advisory council to seek grants and a steady source of funding, such as extra fees on traffic tickets.

The state's six most specialized trauma centers lost $18.3 million in 2001, but the legislation provides no immediate money and has a slim chance of passing this year since the Legislature adjourns June 5. The measure probably will be taken up next winter.

The centers lose money because many patients, about 23 percent in South Carolina, can't pay for life-saving treatments. Funding needs have forced trauma centers in parts of the country to close.

"Unless something is done, this whole system will collapse. And if you get injured, there may be no place that will take you," said Dr. Richard Bell, the chairman of the University of South Carolina medical school's surgery department and a former trauma director at Palmetto Health Richland.

Co-sponsors of the bill are Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee, and Rep. Denny Neilson, D-Darlington. Neilson received trauma care in 2001 after a serious car accident.

"South Carolina's trauma system is in critical and unstable condition," said Department of Health and Environmental Control Commissioner Earl Hunter. "Accidental injuries claimed the lives of nearly 2,000 South Carolinians in 2001, many of them children and young adults."

But it's getting harder to find doctors willing to volunteer to be on-call for trauma center cases, Dr. Douglas Norcross said. "You're caring for a lot of people who won't be able to pay you anything, and often at odd hours ... it's a sacrifice."

The state's 24 trauma centers are not emergency rooms, and hospital participation in the trauma system is not required.

"We're certainly hoping there will be some funding to go along with the legislation," said Norcross, medical director for trauma services at the Medical University of South Carolina.