Answering the call: Behind the scenes with Gold Coast Health interventional cardiologist

At 2:30am, the phone rings. Gold Coast University Hospital (GCUH) Interventional Cardiologist, Professor Kuljit Singh, is instantly awake.

Within minutes he is on the road, heading to hospital to treat someone having a heart attack.

For patients and families, these emergencies unfold in moments of fear and uncertainty.

Behind the scenes, however, an entire on‑call team is calmly mobilising - often in the middle of the night - to save a life.

Professor Singh takes us inside these moments during a recent particularly busy weekend on-call.

“This was a weekend where I was covering both general cardiology admissions and interventional cardiology - so heart attacks as well,” he said.

“On the Sunday alone, we had six heart attack patients arrive within a 24‑hour period.

“Every single one of them had a completely blocked artery, and we opened all of them.”

When a heart attack is suspected, the hospital response often begins well before the patient arrives.

“The on call cardiologist is usually alerted directly by paramedics through a hotline,” Professor Singh said.

“While the patient is still yet to arrive, we’re already giving guidance on medications and activating the hospital response.”

“We aim to open the artery within 60 minutes of the phone call which is what we call door to balloon time.”

With that kind of efficiency, Professor Singh admits he still gets an adrenaline rush each time he responds.

“You might be asleep at two or three in the morning when the phone rings, but by the time you’re on the road heading to the hospital you’re completed switched on and ready to help someone who is critically unwell,” he said.

With 15 years’ experience – 10 of those on the Gold Coast – it’s all in a day’s work for Professor Singh, who estimates he has done thousands of emergency procedures throughout his career.

“I trained in Canada, at one of the largest cardiac centres in North America,” he said.

“That hospital was fed by 20 to 30 other hospitals, and we did around 900 of these procedures a year.

“At GCUH, we do about 250 per year.”

While the technical aspects of the work have become second nature, the human significance never fades.

“We do this every day, but when you stop and think this person is someone’s parent, sibling or partner, the impact of what we do really hits you,” he said.

Professor Singh’s message is simple – don’t ignore or dismiss chest pain.

“If you’re experiencing chest pain which is unusual for you, call an ambulance,” he said.

“Don’t drive yourself or ask your partner to drive you. I’ve seen people die at the wheel, or collapse walking into emergency.

When minutes matter most, being prepared can mean the difference between life and death.

“I’ve seen people arrest as the ambulance arrives, and because help was right there, they survived,” he said.