iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
India Post, the Indian government-operated postal system in India, recently promoted community cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on National Doctors’ Day by releasing a special postal cover. The day is celebrated annually on July 1, which coincides with the birthday of legendary Indian physician-turned-politician Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy.
The special cover was released by Sree Latha, Postmaster General of Hyderabad Circle, in southern India’s Telangana state, on July 1, 2024, at Jamai-I Osmania Post Office Hyderabad. The cover reads: “National CPR Challenge Champaign Srinivasa Heart Foundation”.
This gesture not only conveys the Government of India’s commitment to ‘Saving Lives through Community Bystander CPR’ but also underscores the significant role of the India Post in promoting this life-saving technique. On this occasion, about 100 postal employees and 250 employees of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (Hyderabad Zone) received CPR training.
Several National (Indian) and International Resuscitation Organizations with multi-institutional collaborations have been promoting community CPR programs to enhance outcomes in out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in India for more than two decades.
Srinivasa Heart Foundation is the Indian Partner of the recently inaugurated “National India Hub Community Health & CPR Training Center” at the National India Hub in Schaumburg, Illinois, the biggest community center in the USA.
Dr. Srinivas Ramaka is the Founder and Chairman of the Srinivasa Heart Foundation in India, which has been promoting Bystander CPR programs for many years now. Harish Kolasani, the Founder of the National India Hub, congratulated Dr. Ramaka and thanked him for his collaboration with the CPR Training Center as an Indian Partner.
Research has found that Heart Disease is the number one global public health problem. Heart attacks strike South Asian men and women at younger ages, and as a result, both morbidity and mortality are higher among them compared to any other ethnic group. They tend to develop heart disease ten years earlier than other groups.
In India, heart disease remains the number one cause of death. South Asians are at a four-times greater risk of heart disease than their Western counterparts, and have a greater chance of having a heart attack before 50 years of age. Almost one in three in this group may die from heart disease before 65 years of age. Efforts to raise awareness of heart disease and promote a “healthy heart” lifestyle are essential.
Dr. Vemuri S Murthy, an Indo-US Resuscitation Training and Research expert, and the Founder of the “National India Hub Community Health & CPR Training Center,” Schaumburg, Illinois, in his interview with the media on the occasion of “National Doctors Day, elaborated the ongoing global efforts to combat the world’s number one killer, heart disease.
While pointing to the need for promoting CPR Training across the nations, Dr. Murthy said, “It’s critical to initiate ‘Community Heart Health’ programs with preventive strategies, retard the progression of heart disease with early diagnosis and individualized treatment plans, and implement measures to enhance neurological and other functional outcomes after sudden cardiac arrests. The latter involves providing immediate resuscitation help with high-quality bystander CPR, early defibrillation, and faster transportation to tertiary cardiac care hospitals. Immediate Bystander CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) has proved to have double or triple the chances of their survival.”
Dr. Murthy paid tributes to the efforts by the Government of India (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) for the extensive support being offered to the community CPR programs, including mandatory resuscitation training initiatives with India-tailored National Emergency Life Support (NELS) Courses for Doctors, Nurses, and Paramedics.
