N P Singh: History of the first intensive care unit in Delhi – reminiscences

As most of us are aware, ventilator support came to stay after the polio epidemic in Denmark in the ‘50s. Many of us are also aware that Peter Safar, an Anaesthesiologist, is credited with pioneering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), who also wrote a book titled “The ABC of Resuscitation” in 1957 for training the public in CPR. It was later adopted by the American Heart Association. He also started the first intensive care unit (ICU) in 1958 in the USA. Ten years later, from 1968, the specialty grew from strength to strength in our country and, in 1992, the Society of Critical Care Medicine was formed.