What I saw in hospital emergency rooms

As Bengaluru winds down for the night, the emergency room at Victoria Hospital is a hive of activity. Outside, the wail of an ambulance siren pierces the air, briefly drowning out the groans of patients and the desperate prayers of families waiting for hours. Amid the chaos, a young man paces up and down, pleading for a doctor to help his mother, slumped in a wheelchair and gasping for breath after a severe asthma attack. While they wait, the golden hour, the crucial first 60 minutes, quietly slips away. Over the next few days, I learn that this is the story of a majority of patients who turn up at government hospitals.

In early 2025, the Supreme Court in the S Rajaseekaran vs Union of India case, ruled that access to trauma care during the golden hour is a constitutional right under Arti