Chandigarh, February 16 In a major step towards strengthening emergency cardiac care, the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) here will operationalize its long-awaited dedicated cardiac emergency facility from March 1.
The initiative addresses a critical gap that has been felt since the establishment of the Advanced Cardiac Centre in 2009, a PGIMER statement said on Monday.
Professor Vivek Lal, Director of PGIMER, said that the need for a separate cardiac emergency had been recognized for years.
"In a high-volume tertiary care institute like PGIMER, managing acute cardiac cases within the general emergency system was increasingly challenging. We felt it was important to create a focused pathway exclusively for cardiac emergencies," he said.
For a long time, cardiac emergency patients were managed through the main Emergency wing, which caters to a massive influx of trauma, medical, surgical, and critically ill cases from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, and neighboring regions, the statement said.
Given the daily patient load, time-sensitive cardiac cases often had to function within a crowded system, underscoring the urgency for a structured, specialized response.
"Cardiovascular emergencies are time-critical. Every minute saved can translate into a life saved. Our objective has been to ensure that no cardiac patient loses precious time because of logistical bottlenecks," he said.
He further highlighted that the initiative is also expected to decongest the main Emergency wing, improving overall patient flow and reducing stress for both patients and attendants.