1,400 defibrillators to be installed in public places in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: With incidences of young men suddenly collapsing and succumbing to cardiac arrests on rise in Telangana, the state government has embarked on a programme to train one lakh people in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training and placed orders for 1,400 defibrillators for deploying them in public places.

The health department has taken the initiative to train one lakh people in CPR.

Health Minister T. Harish Rao along with municipal administration minister K. T. Rama Rao launched the programme on Wednesday in association with GVK Emergency Management Research Institute (EMRI).

The ministers voiced concern over the growing number of people succumbing to cardiac arrests.

Rama Rao said the visuals of a 24-year-old police constable succumbing to cardiac arrest while working out at a gym and another 19-year-old collapsing while dancing were shocking.

Telangana witnessed four such cases in a span of 10 days. Three deaths occurred in Hyderabad alone.

The minister said if people are trained in CPR, they can help save lives in such emergencies. CPR-trained people will be deployed in public places like bus and railway stations, malls and government offices.

Harish Rao said that the statistics show that 4,000 people are falling to sudden cardiac arrest everyday and according to the World Health Organization (WHO), nine out of 10 people can be saved with methods like CPR and use of defibrillators.

Meanwhile, minister KTR has also announced that orders for 1,400 defibrillators (AEDs) have been placed.

KTR announced this in response to a tweet by senior interventional cardiologist.

The minister said the number of defibrillators will be increased going forward.

Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) will be deployed in public areas.

Dr Mukharjee Madivada had recently suggested to KTR to install defibrillators in public places in Hyderabad as these will save lives. He had pointed out that sudden death is becoming more common especially after the Covid pandemic.

“CPR can save a significant number of people who experience sudden cardiac arrest. AED is a critical part of CPR and even lay people can use it with a simple training and public access defibrillators are already installed in majority of world class cities,” the doctor had tweeted.

According to Dr Hari Ram, Senior consultant and head, interventional cardiologist, SLG Hospitals, Hyderabad, bystander CPR can be initiated by the public also.

The cardiologist says while AED are available in few places, people need to know how to use this device. Delay of initial treatment leads to decreased blood supply to all important organs like heart, brain, liver, kidney, gut and lungs.

A man collapsed and died while playing badminton at Jayashankar Indoor Stadium Lalapet in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

This was the fourth such incident in Telangana in 10 days. CCTV footage of these incidents have gone viral on social media. Visuals of young men collapsing while working out in the gym or dancing during the wedding or playing games have shocked people.

On February 25, a 19-year-old collapsed and died while dancing at a wedding of his relative in Nirmal district.

Mutyam, a native of Maharashtra, was dancing at the wedding reception of a relative in Pardi Avillage of Kubeer mandal of Nirmal district.

A 24-year-old police constable died of cardiac arrest while working out at a gym in Hyderabad on February 22.

On February 20, a man collapsed and died during a Haldi ceremony as part of the wedding of his relative in Hyderabad. The 40-year-old man was applying turmeric to the groom when he suddenly collapsed and died before he could be taken to a hospital.