Learning Life Saving Simple CPR Skill, need of Hour: Dr. Ashutosh Biswas

Bhubaneswar: One in four deaths in India are due to cardiovascular diseases. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in India. In the recent past the country has witnessed many deaths due to sudden cardiac arrest outside hospital. As per studies, after heart attack cardiac arrest at home have increased from 60 to more than 90 per cent, with sedentary lifestyle during COVID. Not only cardiac diseases, cardiac arrest can be the terminal stage of any life-threatening conditions, said experts on the occasion of launching Community CPR education in India building a Nation of Lifesavers with a collaborative effort of American Heart Association (AHA) and AIIMS Bhubaneswar.

Intervening within 2-3 minutes of cardiac arrest is crucial to maintain blood circulation to the brain and get time for availability of immediate medical facility or an ambulance. In such scenarios the role of bystanders (life saver) becomes vital to make sure the brain survives until medical services are available.

Survival from cardiac arrest largely depends on how quickly CPR is started and the quality of CPR given. To answer the critical need for community cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR education in India where it is estimated that 98% of the residents are not trained in CPR.

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is an easy hand technique to maintain the heart function, said AIIMS Bhubaneswar Executive Director (Co-Convener AHA-AIIMS Collaborative) Dr. Ashutosh Biswas. Providing Life Saving Simple CPR training in the community can help to large extent for the above purpose. In this context, AHA & AIIMS Bhubaneswar will train more than One lakh Community Members over two years, added Dr. Biswas.

Chief of Mission Aligned Business and Health Care Solutions, AHA John Meiners, Convener AHA-AIIMS Collaborative & President AIIMS Mangalagiri Dr. T. S. Ravikumar, AIIMS Bhubaneswar Medical Superintendent Dr. S N Mohanty, DEAN(Research) Dr. Binod Kumar Patro, DEAN (Exam) Dr. Manoj Kumar Mohanty, Programme Leader AHA-AIIMS Collaborative Dr. Priyamadhaba Behera, and Divya Trikha, Mission Advancement, Advisor AHA attending the programme spoke about the importance of training community simple CPR skills.

Five hundred master trainers trained in this programme. Each trained volunteer will train at least 75 community members in Hands-only CPR. Through this effort more than One Lakh community members will be trained in the next two years.