Manipal Hospitals Celebrates 25 Years Of Critical Care Unit

On July 29 on the occasion of completing 25 years of critical care unit, Manipal Hospital, Old Airport Road, organised a press conference to showcase the growth and expansion of the unit, since its inception. The hospital brought in a team of experts including Dr. Sunil Karanth, Chairman, HOD & Consultant – Critical Care Medicine, Manipal Hospital Old Airport Road, and others to talk about infrastructure, the advancement of technologies, and the hospital's ability to deliver clinical excellence in Intensive Care services. 

With the increase in critical cases among the younger and older population segments, the demand for ICU rooms has increased exponentially. Lifestyle changes, COVID virus, and severe infections are causing acute illness among the younger population. The demand for ICU admissions reached its peak during the second COVID wave, and the majority of the cases were seen among the younger population.

Since 1997, the ICU team of Manipal Hospitals, has provided treatment to 35,000 patients with utmost care. The expert team has provided robust care and has handled many critical cases with meticulous planning and execution. As Intensive care services were their focus, they crafted different types of ICUs for patients who undergo kidney, heart, and liver transplants. Patients who suffer from multi-organ dysfunction, severe neuro diseases, and pregnancy-related complications are also treated in high-end digitised ICU with the support of skilled and experienced staff and doctors, the hospital said in a statement.

“The department has always been agile in making decisions when it comes to saving lives. We, at Manipal Hospitals, have gone beyond the walls to shorten the distance to provide advanced care to patients with the help of Airlift ICU and green corridors. Airlift transfers require a team that is qualified to enable smooth transfer of patients from one region to another. The plane has a suitable monitoring system to keep a close eye on the patient's vital signs, such as heart rate, pulse, and oxygen saturation,” said Dr Ajith Kumar A K, Senior Consultant & HOD - Critical Care Medicine, Manipal Hospital Sarjapur.

Dr Rajesh Mohan Shetty, Lead Consultant – Department of Critical Care Medicine, Chief of Clinical Services, Manipal Hospital Whitefield said, "The department have an advanced scoring system which is used to evaluate several health parameters of patients. These scoring systems takes into account the physiological scores of the patients into statistical algorithms that provides a single score. These scores help the clinical experts to predict how a patient’s condition will progress or how they will react to certain clinical interventions.”

These ICUs provide a range of services including multichannel monitoring, complex modes of mechanical ventilation, different forms of acute dialysis, hemodynamic support and management, high-end neuro-critical care and neuromonitoring, and Extracorporeal services including Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).  

“In these 25 years, the department has grown from a small 11-bed unit to a 50-bed unit with 4 zones. The ICU has also evolved and adapted to provide outreach services to acutely ill patients. To treat such critically ill patients, the staff must be skilled and experienced. In Manipal Hospitals, the nurses and staff are provided adequate training to treat patients efficiently, leaving no space for errors,” stated Dr Justin A Gopaldas, Consultant, Critical Care Medicine, Manipal Hospital Jayanagar. 

The aim of digitisation in healthcare is to reduce human errors and provide more robust care for patients by skilled doctors and nurses. Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare has transformed the entire operations of the healthcare system, including emergency treatment procedures, techniques used in monitoring patients, and securing accurate data to provide correct diagnosis.

“The department has always believed in constant improvement and embracing new technologies to provide better quality clinical care. Work is being done to combine AI and IT with patient care. Digitisation will slowly make it easy for medical experts to diagnose the patient without delay, monitor patient’s vitals sitting at home, capture accurate data, and access digital reports on any device.” said Dr Sunil Karanth, Chairman, HOD & Consultant, Critical Care Medicine, Manipal Hospital Old Airport Road. 

Dr Rajesh Mohan Shetty, Lead Consultant Department of Critical Care Medicine, Chief of Clinical Services, Manipal Hospital Whitefield explained the department have an advanced scoring system which is used to evaluate several health parameters of patients. These scoring systems takes into account the physiological scores of the patients into statistical algorithms that provides a single score. These scores help the clinical experts to predict how a patient’s condition will progress or how they will react to certain clinical interventions.