The intensive care unit
What ICU admission means for a family, explained by someone who works there.
In short
What does it mean when a relative is admitted to intensive care?
Intensive care is for patients who need continuous monitoring and support that a general ward cannot provide. Admission is a clinical decision taken by the treating consultant, not arranged on request. The unit at Ved Road, Surat runs 24 hours, with visiting restricted for infection control.
- Staffed 24 hours, every day
- Admission is a clinical decision
- Restricted visiting for infection control
- Charges given before admission
This film has not been made yet. What it would cover is set out below.
What it covers
- What intensive care is for, and when a patient is moved there
- Who is present around the clock
- What the monitors and alarms actually mean
- Visiting: who may come, when, and why access is restricted
- What families should ask the treating team, and when
Why it is worth making
Families hear the words intensive care and assume the worst, or assume nothing. A consultant explaining the unit calmly, in Gujarati or Hindi, removes more fear than any leaflet.
What filming needs from the hospital
- A consultant willing to speak on camera
- Filming outside the unit rather than inside it, with no patient on screen
- Agreement on which language the film is spoken in
Phone footage shot steadily is worth more than nothing, so none of this waits on a production budget. Call 0261 2510050 to arrange it.
Questions people ask
Anything not covered here, call 0261 2510050.
Who decides that someone needs intensive care?
The treating consultant, on the clinical picture. It is a medical decision rather than something arranged on request.
Can family stay with the patient?
Intensive care has restricted visiting for infection control. The unit explains its arrangements when the patient is admitted.
Is the unit staffed at night?
Yes. Intensive care runs 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
What will intensive care cost per day?
The admission counter tells you the charge for the care category before admission. Call 0261 2510050 and ask for the admission desk.
Is there a separate unit for children?
Yes. Children are cared for in a paediatric intensive care unit rather than alongside adults, and there is a neonatal unit for newborns.
Medical emergency? We are open 24x7.
Free ambulance within 15 km · Shree Prannath Marg, Ved Road, Surat 395004