ATLANTA -- Trauma care experts said Wednesday that sustainable funding is needed to build and maintain an adequate trauma care system in Georgia.

Dennis Ashley, chairman of the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission, said the $58.9 million set aside by the 2008 Legislature for the state trauma system is a good start but isn't enough. He spoke at a forum on trauma care at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University.

To get trauma care to an adequate level, Ashley said, the system needs $100 million a year. He said it is important for the source of money to be constant and not dependent on a budget allocation from the Legislature each year.