HEART doctors are seeking the integration of a mandatory cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training in schools nationwide because of an alarming rise in death due to heart diseases.
Dr. Francis Lavapie, PHA’s council chairman on CPR, said the country has yet to be CPR-ready, and that as heart physicians, they saw the need to incorporate CPR trainings in the music, art, physical education and health subject in public and private elementary and high schools.
“Even an eight-year-old child who is CPR-trained can save the life of an adult suffering cardiac arrest,” Lavapie said at last week’s media briefing in Quezon City. “We want to correct misconception that only doctors and other competent medical personnel can administer CPR.”
Coronary vascular diseases are the number one cause of death, based on a World Health Organization data.
“We are batting to provide the so-called bystander CPR, just like in Japan, Singapore, the United States of America and Europe,” he said.
“Don’t be afraid to administer CPR when you see someone suffer heart attack.”
There is a zero to two percent chance of survival if CPR is given 10 minutes after the cardiac arrest, while the window period of four to six minutes of CPR administration has a 20 percent to 30 percent chance of survival, he said.
Lavapie said PHA with at least 1,600 doctor-members has already launched a nationwide CPR trainings for government agencies and even private establishments.
“We thanked cage star Samboy Lim for the passage of House Bill No. 6891, or the CPR Trainings in Schools Act. Because of him, Pampanga Rep. Joseller ‘Yeng’ Guiao batted for its passage on first reading. It is called the Samboy Lim measure,” he said.
The Senate’s version now on its third reading will be tackled on May 23, he added.
“Lim could have been saved if only those around him knew how to administer the proper CPR,” he said.
Last year, Lim suffered heart attack during an exhibition game, and that from then on, he was in coma.
A news article written by Gynna Gagelonia, PHA media officer, said Lim’s brain was deprived of oxygen for at least 23 minutes before he was taken to a hospital.
“Had Samboy been given adequate CPR during the first three minutes he was rendered unconscious, his chances of recovery could have been much better,” she said.
CPR training in school is nothing new in many countries, Lavapie said.
Four out of five cardiac arrest cases happen at home, PHA president Alex Junia said.
“There is a good chance a rescuer will be helping his or her loved one. Giving Filipinos the skills to intervene rather than remain passive, ignorant bystanders until the arrival of a well-trained medical personnel can literally spell the difference between life and death,” he said.
On Monday, the heart doctors of PHA conducted a CPR-ready Philippines mass campaign at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City to provide the public with actual training sessions.