Chandigarh, Feb. 17 -- The Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) will operationalise a dedicated cardiac emergency unit at its advanced cardiac centre from March 1. Unlike the advanced paediatric centre and advanced eye centre, the advanced cardiac centre, established in 2009, did not have an exclusive emergency wing. Cardiac patients were first received at the main general emergency before being referred to the specialised facility, often leading to delays in time-sensitive cases. The advanced cardiac centre is a 210-bedded facility, including a 46-bed cardiac surgery unit and three cardiac catheterisation laboratories, catering to a large number of critical heart patients from across the region. It is expected to ease congestion in the main emergency wing. Announcing the development, PGIMER director Vivek Lal said the need for a separate cardiac emergency had long been felt. "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.htc...