With increase in the number of sudden cardiac deaths in Kashmir valley, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Friday called for widespread cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training that would save lives.
“Everyone should be trained for CPR regardless whether or not they work in the medical field,” said DAK President Dr Nisar ul Hassan.
“CPR should even be taught as a part of school curriculum so that more and more people get acquainted with this life-saving skill,” he said.
CPR is an emergency life-saving technique which involves chest compressions at a rate of 100 to 120 a minute.
Dr Hassan said people must understand that CPR is a simple but vital skill everyone should learn and then put into practice in emergency situations.
“Though CPR is one of the most important life-saving techniques, unfortunately most people in Kashmir do not know how to perform CPR,” he said.
“So when people experience cardiac arrest in public, in their homes or workplaces, there is simply no one around who knows how to help them.”
The DAK President said most of the cardiac arrests in Kashmir occur outside the hospitals.
“And they don’t survive because they don’t receive CPR from bystanders,” he said.
Dr Nisar said chances of survival in people who go into cardiac arrest increase if more people know how to administer CPR.
“In communities where widespread CPR training has been provided, survival rates from sudden cardiac arrest have been reportedly as high as 49% to 74%,” he said.
“CPR is much more likely to be successful when started promptly and the victim of cardiac arrest will almost certainly die if the bystanders do not intervene immediately,” he added.
