JOIN USMost people unaware of cardiopulmonary resuscitation: Survey
Most people are unaware about life-saving technique of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), a manual emergency procedure in which the lungs and heart are made to work by pressing the chest overlying the heart. This is despite the fact that 75 to 80 percent of all cardiac arrests take place either at home or in public places.
This has been brought out by a survey carried out by Dr Dinakar D, a life support and safety instructor, to judge preparedness in such situations. It was carried out as part of a programme to train lay people in the city in CPR, by Fortis Hospital, Cunningham Road.
As many as 1,000 employees of around 20 companies in the State took part in the survey.
Basic questions
A number of basic questions related to safety measures and emergencies in case of a cardiac arrest were asked.
They were: What do you do when someone collapses or has a heart attack? What
is CPR? What is the emergency number to call an ambulance?
Of the 1,000, it was found that only 50 per cent knew about the concept of CPR. Also, only 20 per cent of those surveyed knew about the emergency number 102.
“One of the most common responses when a person faints is to sprinkle water. However, when you sprinkle water on a patient who has had a cardiac arrest, the person is sure to die,” said Dinakar, while demonstrating the emergency technique at a press conference on Thursday.
Dinakar said imparting knowledge about such emergency techniques should be made mandatory in schools as part of their curriculum.
“These are practical and easy solutions to save lives. It should be made mandatory as a subject in schools,” Dinakar said.
So far, Fortis has trained 11,000 lay persons that including students, IT professionals, bankers, public servants and many others.
Train 25K people
“The goal is to train 25,000 people by the end of the year,” said Dr Manish Mattoo, zonal director, Fortis Hospital, Cunningham Road.
Fortis has partnered with a number of institutions, public and private, such the CBI, TCS, Jain University, R V Group of Institutions as part of the programme.