In line with the Department of Health’s observance of the National Disaster Consciousness Month, Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial called on Filipinos to learn basic life support techniques such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Ubial said all Filipinos, and not only health workers, should be involved in solving health problems.
Thus, the DoH will conduct a pilot project for CPR training, she related, and some schools hosted training on CPR Day last April.
She also said the DoH will implement the Samboy Lim Bill or the CPR Bill that makes CPR training a requirement for graduation. The bill only needs President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature to make CPR training mandatory for elementary and high school students as part of the basic education curriculum.
The bill was named after basketball player Samboy Lim as a reminder that cardiac arrest can happen even to physically fit people such as athletes.
Lim collapsed in the middle of an exhibition game featuring former Philippine Basketball Association superstars in 2014.
The health chief said demonstrations in schools, provided by the DoH and its partners, will also be scaled up to train students on the practical use of CPR.
“There should be a mannequin. Everyone who sees the video should actually perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation,” Ubial said.
She also said the DoH plans to increase the number of barangay health facilities in schools for emergency evacuations. These centers are needed to separate the ill and vulnerable from healthy evacuees and give them privacy, Ubial added.
She further said her requirement of CPR training in work evaluations for employees in Davao health regional offices will be implemented on a national level.
Ubial said the DOH will sign a joint memorandum with the Civil Service Commission to include demonstrations in giving basic life support and cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the performance evaluation of all government employees.