Emergency Room, a 20-part series on National Geographic Channel, will feature real cases and present how doctors deal with the situation at hand. Its host Irrfan Khan spoke to Divya Kaushik about his association with the show and how it will encourage people to take swift action and save a life
It’s neither an Indian version of Grey’s Anatomy nor it is a scripted account of what happens inside a hospital. Emergency Room, a series on National Geographic Channel, will introduce a new format of a reality show to the viewers. The 20-part series shot at Medanta-The Medcity, Gurgaon, will bring to you the actual scene from an emergency room. It is being said that the show will look beyond a hospital’s flashing blue lights and present the real picture of life in the medical world. The trailer of the show has already introduced the audience to the story of Anil Kumar, whose hand was crushed in a machine while he was at work and a colleague rushed him to the hospital. The doctors are seen examining the situation, there are no wardboys and nurses running around or an added dose of drama to it.
“The show aims at creating awareness and clearing the misconceptions that people have about the emergency room. The objective is to tell people that most of the cases — of accident or a severe attack or something similar — can be handled and there are more chances of a patient surviving if the patient is brought to the hospital on right time. In most of the cases people around the patient get into a panic and don’t know what to do, so the show will try to prepare them well to handle such situations that anyone can encounter, in office, home or on street,” shared Irrfan Khan, the host of the show, who is returning to the small screen as a host after some time now. He last hosted a few episodes of Mano Ya Na Mano 2.
The actor was honest to share that he can’t relate to most of the shows on TV and doesn’t watch it at all. “This was only because the concept of the show was good and there isn’t any drama added to it. It is as real as it can get. I don’t have to do much as I am only introducing the show. The shooting didn’t take much time,” added the actor.
The channel informed that the contestants were shot after a detailed consent was taken from the families. And doctors while doing their duty were not affected by the fact that there are cameras shooting them. As per a seven-city survey, it was reported that 74 per cent bystanders are unlikely to be first responders and become involved in assisting a victim of serious injury irrespective of whether they are alone at the spot or in the presence of others regardless of whether there were others on scene or not. India accounts for as high as six per cent of the world’s road accidents. In cases of heart attacks, an hour after a heart attack is vital for patients. Proper medical help within this hour increases the chances of patients’ recovery manifold.
“We are so busy in our lives that otherwise we don’t have time to take note of these little things. In most of the cases of road accidents either the onlookers are not keen to take the patient to the hospital and some who even think of doing so think they would be harassed by the police later and hospital might turn them down. The series will encourage people to take quick action and will put across examples of how you can save a life. It will prepare you to deal with an emergency,” added Irrfan.
The actor, who is very selective about his work on small screen, shared that he is only keen to be a part of shows that will help him connect better with the masses.