One in four deaths in India is 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 cases of 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 Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (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, they told.
Survival from cardiac arrest largely depends on how quickly CPR is started and the quality of CPR given. The 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 a large extent, he said.
AHA and AIIMS Bhubaneswar will train more than 1 lakh community members over two years, informed Dr Biswas. Five hundred master trainers were trained in the programme. Each trained volunteer will train at least 75 community members in hands-only CPR. Through the effort, more than 1lakh community members will be trained in the next two years, he told.