Hyderabad: A cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) awareness programme was organised by the Telangana branch of the Indian Red Cross Society in collaboration with the Press Club of Hyderabad on Monday.
Live demonstration on the dos and don’ts while performing CPR was carried out at the program that saw attendees including the chairman of the Indian Red Cross Society, Telangana, Ajay Misra, head of the Emergency Medicine Department at NIMS, Dr Ashima Sharma.
The chief guest for the event was Ajay Misra, chairman of the Indian Red Cross Society-Telangana. The keynote address was delivered by Dr Ashima Sharma, head of the Emergency Medicine Department at NIMS, Hyderabad.
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Ajay Misra while speaking as the chief guest of the event said, “Today, every 60 seconds, about 112 cardiac arrests take place, out of which 80 percent of them take place outside hospital settings where immediate medical help is not available.”
“Less than 2 percent of the people are aware about the concept of CPR, out of this number also, a small percentage of them can give effective CPR treatment to the patient,” he added.
The Telangana chapter of the Indian Red Cross Society in the coming months will be organising at least one CPR programme in every district of Telangana.
Dr Ashima Sharma, while delivering her keynote address said, “Training people is important because we need a large number of first responders so that the golden hour of survival can be utilised before medical help reaches the patient.”
“The first job is to dial 108 and ask for an ambulance and then perform CPR after identifying if the person is conscious or not as the procedure only works if the person is unconscious, do not bother and waste time checking the pulse, that is the doctor’s job,” she added.
