Faced with extraordinary issues like manpower crunch and infection control, the critical care sector in India still does a great job of saving lives.

A recent article that appeared in the Indian magazine, The Week points out this often overlooked aspect of our healthcare sector. Some of the aspects that the article try to draw our attention to are worth noting:

Critical care, a recent evolution in India

In India, critical care medicine came to as a specialty only in the recent past. Earlier, it used to be largely clinical-based but the transition to a technology-driven approach is well underway. However, that’s not to say that there are no challenges yet to overcome. “There are around 60,000 ICUs in the country. But we have less than 2,500 intensive care specialists,’’ says Dr Pradip Kumar Bhattacharya, director, emergency and critical care services, Chirayu Medical College and Hospital at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.

But new training modules- like the one in the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru which makes use of advanced mannequins to teach students, seek to fill the manpower gap. Also, a big part of such training programs is the protocols to control infections.

Indeed, infection control remains one of the greatest challenges in intensive care. Studies bring out the fact that sepsis kills more people in India than AIDS and cancer combined. As per a study by the Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine, 36 Indians die every hour from sepsis. The study, which was conducted on 4,209 patients in 124 ICUs across the nation discovered that even the patients admitted to ICUs for non-surgical treatment face a great risk of contracting sepsis.

Thanks to more researches, the medical fraternity now possess a better understanding of sepsis- something that would help bring down the patients who develop, or succumb to sepsis in the ICUs.

Cost factor aside..

Cost is the major factor which addles people when it comes to critical care. The article maintains that critical care still remains accessible to the majority of Indians.

“The public sector is practically nonexistent. Even where it is available, patients have to usually buy medications and disposables,’’ says Dr Shivakumar Iyer, president, Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine.
Iyer points out that the high cost is also because ICUs need more nurses(at a ratio of 1:1 to 1:3) as well as doctors(1:8 to 1:10). Also, the cost of equipment, expensive disposables and medicines etc. add to the price, he says.

But Iyer, an intensivist with multiple years of experience makes a suggestion to cut down costs- by providing ICU care only to those who need it.

Continuing with challenges

The obvious problems with the sector don’t make challenges any lenient towards it. Like the critical care comminutes in advanced economies, the one in India also must grapple with many emerging and pre-emerging infections: HINI being a recent, popular example. Needless to say, the newer infections have added to the troubles that critical care faces in India.

Given these many challenges and problems, one might think that the critical care units in India would buckle under pressure and be generally doing a shoddy job. But the fact is that the challenges notwithstanding, these units save a lot of lives every single day.

The least that those in power could do will be providing these units all the support they require.

Image credits: theweek.in

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