Police cars should have defibrillators to deal with cardiac arrest

With the recent attention on sudden cardiac arrests, one Member of Parliament is advocating that police patrol cars be equipped with automated external defibrillators, or AED.

MP Fatimah Lateef, who is also a member of the National Taskforce for Pre-hospital Care Medicine, said this could greatly improve the survival chances of a cardiac arrest victim.

Medical experts say that if you experience sudden cardiac arrest outside the hospital, your rate of survival is only 2.7 percent.

Mass exercise events are increasingly popular among Singaporeans.

Even Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong gave his support at the community run at East Coast Park on Sunday and, with the recent attention on the level of sports safety, the organisers did not take any chances.

Ambulances, medical staff and first-aid volunteers were on standby at the event as well as an AED, a machine which can resuscitate the victim of sudden cardiac arrest.

But medical professionals say outside of such sporting events, Singaporeans are woefully unprepared to react.

Dr Charles Johnson, HOPE Ambulance Service, said: "Often we don't call for help early enough, or we call the wrong people. Working in the emergency department, a lot of times when somebody collapses at home, the first call for help is to uncle, auntie, children, then somewhere along the way, 'Oh yes, we haven't called the ambulance yet! Better call now', that kind of thing.

"People have to realise that calling for help is not the answer. You still have to do cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) until professional help arrives."

With the survival rate falling by an average of 10 per cent with every minute that passed, the experts say using an AED at the scene can mean the difference between life and death.

But there are other problems as well.

Dr Charles Johnson said: "From the time of call to the actual time of arrival at scene, there are problems, for example in terms of locating the exact block, which lift to take.

"We also have to realise that HDB lifts tend to be small. It is not easy to institute emergency medical care in the lift to a patient in a sitting position, because the standard lying down stretcher does not fit in a HDB lift door."

MP Fatimah Lateef believes one way to improve the survival rate of cardiac arrests here is to equip the police with AED sets.

She said: "Sometimes they do arrive before the paramedics or the ambulances arrive. So it will be good if the police who's first on scene could help with the assessment of patient, and assess whether there's a need to do CPR, or even to defibrillate. That would save time as well."

She noted that while many policemen could apply CPR and work the defibrillator, she felt there should be a training programme for all policemen.

Dr Fatimah added that CPR skills should be taught to more Singaporeans - even from as young as 12.

She estimated that at least 20 per cent of the population need to be trained before a one per cent change can be effected in the survival rate.

Dr Fatimah said another idea is to increase the number of AED sets at Changi Airport, which sees a large number of human traffic daily.

She cites a recent study done at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, which gives the public access to AEDs within one minute in any direction.

Source:www.channelnewsasia.com