AIIMS-Bhubaneswar Collaborates With American Heart Association To Train Over 1 Lakh Community CPR Members

Bhubaneswar: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Bhubaneswar has teamed up with American Heart Association (AHA) to launch community Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) education in India.

Speaking at the launch of the community CPR education on Thursday, the experts said one in four deaths in India are caused by cardiovascular diseases. In the recent past, the country has witnessed many deaths due to sudden cardiac arrest outside hospital.

As per studies, cardiac arrest at home has increased from 60 to more than 90 per cent due to sedentary lifestyle during COVID. Not only cardiac diseases, cardiac arrest can be the terminal stage of any life-threatening conditions, said the experts.

They said 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. The initiative aims at addressing the CPR in India where it is estimated that 98% of the residents are not trained in the method. 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 the 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 TS 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 spoke on community CPR skills.

Each of 500 master trainers were trained in the programme, 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.