A hospital frequently witnesses frantic relatives dashing into an emergency room, holding their unresponsive patient. With shallow breathing, dangerously low blood pressure and oxygen levels, and a high fever, most people are of the opinion that the heart of the affected person is in jeopardy of stopping if left untreated any longer.

Life and death conditions like this are a frequent incidence in an Emergency Room. And this specialty plays a fundamental role in the healthcare system.

Emergency medicine is an extremely vital phase of the healthcare system. The initial management and stabilization of a patient is definitely a specialty on its own, which human beings have come to recognize over the years, stated President of the Apollo Group of Hospitals, Dr K Hari Prasad.

Dr Hari Prasad has been an instrumental force in setting up emergency medicine throughout all Apollo Hospitals. He began his profession specializing in anesthesiology and critical care and later specialized in Emergency Medicine in 1996. At that time, Emergency medicine as a specialty was not recognized. In most of the hospitals, there were simply Casualty wings to look after accident victims and emergency cases. Often the patients have been being handled by regular doctors who had little notion about the associated complications. As such, he studied Emergency Medicine as a separate specialty and held training programmes with the help of faculty and institutions from advanced countries like the US where it was already a centered medical branch. From an inspiring cricketer to anesthesiologist-cum-critical care physician, to an emergency medicine expert to ultimately turning into the president of Indias first corporate chain of hospitals, Dr K Hari Prasads has been an awe-inspiring journey.

Life-threatening illnesses and injuries are now detected a lot earlier and now being managed in a more efficient manner, thanks to emergency medicine. Emergency departments have turn out to be the frontline of medicine, treating a range of sufferers and making split decisions to save affected person lives, mentioned Dr Hari Prasad.

In the opinion of Dr Hari Prasad, as much as emergency departments are important, he urges sufferers to select a hospital or health care facility wisely. With developments in medical science, there are numerous hospitals now that cater to a particular problem. It is a suitable idea to go to such specialised services rather than a normal hospital that covers all aspects of medicine. Similarly, select a hospital geared up with modern medical technologies and affordable facilities.

Hospitals as Apollo provide world class Proton therapy (used to treat tumors and cancer cells with precision and with very low toxicity). In fact, the Apollo Proton Cancer Center is the first such facility in the world of South Asia. While a comparable treatment may cost millions at other hospitals, it charges only one-fourth or less with Apollo.

With an estimated growth rate of about 20 per cent over the upcoming two years, Apollos healthcare unit is all set to expand its presence. They have currently carried out a soft launch of their 300 bedded multispecialty hospital in India deploying their excellent skills to offer top quality service with their ultra-modern facilities.