Dr. Nilu Sunil

Expert in rapid assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of acute medical and surgical emergencies across all age groups.

Nationally recognized resuscitation expert specializing in BLS, ACLS, PALS, neonatal resuscitation, and critical life-saving interventions.

Skilled in the emergency management of stroke, seizures, altered consciousness, traumatic brain injury, and other neurological crises.

Experienced in stabilizing and managing major trauma, polytrauma, shock, and critically ill patients requiring urgent intervention.

Expert in disaster preparedness, mass casualty incident management, emergency response planning, and healthcare system resilience.

Specializes in developing trauma systems, prehospital care protocols, and post-crash emergency response programs to improve patient outcomes.

Actively involved in EMCON, Young Faculty Talks, simulation-based training, faculty development, and emergency medicine education.

Extensive experience training ambulance personnel, police officers, healthcare workers, and community first responders in emergency care.

Expert in establishing spoke-and-hub emergency care models, strengthening emergency departments, and improving healthcare infrastructure.

Proficient in using bedside ultrasound for rapid diagnosis and clinical decision-making in emergency and critical care settings.

Led large-scale healthcare provider training programs across Karnataka, preparing over 1,000 professionals to manage critically ill patients.

Specializes in simulation-driven emergency medicine training to enhance clinical skills, teamwork, and patient safety.

When a person collapses from cardiac arrest, the brain begins to die within four to six minutes without oxygen. In Bengaluru, ambulance response times typically range from eight to twenty minutes. That gap is filled, or not filled, by whoever is present at the scene. The chain of survival has three of its five links that depend entirely on bystander action before any medical professional arrives. Dr. Nilu Sunil, Head of Emergency Medicine at SPARSH Hospital, Hennur Road, Bengaluru, has managed over 10,000 emergency cases across 25 years and has personally trained more than 30,000 people in CPR as part of the Chitradurga community initiative. Her guidance is clear: check the scene is safe before approaching; confirm the person is unresponsive by shaking the shoulders and calling to them; assign the 112 or 108 call to a specific named person and do not assume someone else has called; place the person flat on a firm surface; tilt the head back to open the airway and look, listen, and feel for breathing for no more than ten seconds. If they are not breathing normally, begin chest compressions immediately, heel of one hand on the centre of the chest, arms straight, compress at least 5 cm deep at 100 to 120 compressions per minute, and do not stop. If an AED is available, send someone for it without interrupting CPR, turn it on, attach the pads as shown on the diagram, and follow the voice instructions. Every minute without defibrillation in a shockable arrest reduces survival by seven to ten percent. Compression-only CPR without rescue breaths is effective and is always far better than inaction.

The emergencies most likely to be encountered outside a hospital each have a specific sequence of bystander actions that can prevent death or drastically reduce harm in the minutes before an ambulance arrives. None of them require medical training. They require knowing the steps and acting without hesitation. Dr. Nilu Sunil, Head of Emergency Medicine at SPARSH Hospital, Hennur Road, Bengaluru, with 25 years of emergency medicine practice and having trained more than 30,000 people in first aid and CPR, provides the following guidance. For choking in adults and children over one year: if the person cannot cough, speak, or breathe, give five firm back blows between the shoulder blades with the heel of the hand, then five abdominal thrusts with one fist just above the navel pulled sharply inward and upward. Alternate until the object is expelled or the person loses consciousness; if they collapse, begin CPR immediately. For infants under one year: five back blows followed by five chest thrusts using two fingers on the centre of the chest, not abdominal thrusts. For major bleeding: apply firm direct pressure to the wound immediately using any available material. Do not remove soaked material; add more on top and press continuously for at least ten minutes. For a limb bleed not controlled by pressure, a tight tourniquet above the wound is appropriate, noting the time it was applied and telling the paramedics. For stroke, use FAST: Face drooping on one side, Arm weakness when both arms are raised, Speech slurred or absent, Time to call 112 immediately. Do not give food or water. Note when symptoms started. Every minute without stroke treatment destroys approximately 1.9 million brain cells.