Losing the golden hour | The Indian Express

Losing the golden hour | The Indian Express

Written by K K Aggarwal |Updated: August 3, 2019 7:00:12 am

The writer is President-Elect Confederation of Medical Associations of Asia and Oceania

Losing the golden hour

What does it say about health care if even celebrities don’t get critical first aid?

A study in The Lancet has shown that about 15 per cent of patients who survived needed at least 30 minutes of resuscitation. (Illustration: C R Sasikumar)

Will we get timely healthcare when we need it is a question often asked by people in India. The answer, unfortunately, is no. Cardiac arrest revival needs to be done within four minutes, angioplasty in a heart attack needs to conducted within 90 minutes and a road traffic accident victim needs to be provided on the spot first aid within 10 minutes and the victim’s vital parameters should stabilise in an hour. Advanced ambulance care needs to reach the victim within four minutes. But even in Delhi, a patient cannot get such care.