[Wise priorities and Essential Emergency and Critical Care (EECC) can save many lives].

An increased focus on essential care could avert more preventable deaths among critically ill patients in the world than the current focus on advanced technologies. Intensive care is expensive and high-risk in absence of training and safety standards. Identification and basic care of failing vital organs across hospitals are the fundaments of all critical care. EECC comprises 40 such life-saving clinical processes that are affordable and practical enough to be applied in any hospital ward worldwide. Ensuring EECC is provided to all critically ill patients across hospitals has the potential to save many lives.