The Department of Emergency Medicine, established in 1998, is one of the oldest fully fledged emergency departments in the country and alsoone of the first to start an MCI-recognized post-graduate MD program in Emergency Medicine in 2011. It is staffed round the clock by consultants trained in Emergency Medicine and caters to emergencies of all specialties, including medical, surgical, trauma, paediatric and obstetric emergencies. Our goal is to do a quick initial assessment, stabilise the patient and provide immediate urgently needed treatment, perform relevant basic investigations and arrive at a differential diagnosis. Following this, relevant specialties are involved in the care of the patient and decisions are made regarding intervention and disposition.

The “USP”of this 56-bedded department is the expertise of all residents and faculty in the resuscitation, management and monitoring of critically ill patients. Availability of all important tests as point-of-care for e.g. arterial blood gas, complete blood count, cardiac troponin, X ray and of course ultrasound, ensures that an almost complete work-up of the patient is done within minutes in the department itself, enabling us to start important critical treatment immediately. Acute conditions such as heart attacks and strokes are dealt with on a war-footing, with clear protocols in place which help us to quickly identify patients at risk and perform life-saving measures according to international guidelines. Dedicated, efficient and caring nursing staff make sure that patients who are affected unexpectedly by an acute illness, and anxious family members are taken care of well and made to feel at ease. The 24-hour presence of medico social workers helps in counselling of patients and families in diverse situations such as loss of a family member, lack of social support, financial difficulties etc.

DEPARTMENT FACILITIES

• 24/7/365 care for all emergencies, with trained senior emergency physicians available round the clock

• State of the art monitoring facilities for each bed, availability of all bedside investigations in the department itself, x-ray room within the department

• Minor operation theatre for burns care and minor procedures such as suturing, drainage of abscesses etc.

• Specialists of all departments available on call, who will attend emergency patients at all times

• Trauma care by dedicated trauma team, comprising of emergency physicians, surgeon, orthopedician and other surgical specialists as required, ensuring quick assessment, stabilisation and early operative intervention whenever needed. Regular blood transfusion, as well as massive transfusion of blood products, which is a life-saving measure, is arranged rapidly, with the help of well-stocked and efficient blood bank

• 12-bedded dedicated Paediatric Emergency room, staffed 24 hours by paediatricians

• 8-bedded Emergency Intensive Care Unit, where critical patients can be admitted and treated on short-term basis, till bed is available in main ICU

• American Heart Association accredited International Training Centre for Basic and Advanced Cardiac Life Support since the year 2002