Life saving move for heart patients

The "Life Saving Outreach Service" for heart patients launched in the Kurunegala district by the Sri Lanka Australia Charitable Health Fund under the initiative of Sri Lankan Consultant Dr. Ranjith Hettihewa and Hettihewa domiciled in Melbourne, Australia is to be extended to the Kegalle District on April 28.

The lives of nearly 80 per cent of heart patients could be saved from sudden death by means of proper emergency methods of treatment to patien

ts suffering sudden heart failure till they are rushed to hospital for further treatment. The 'Life saving outreach service' was launched to save the lives of heart patients by educating the public about emergency treatment methods to sudden heart failures said Sunil Ratnayake in a communique issued on behalf of the organising committee of the Sri Lanka Australia Charitable Health Fund.

The communique said under this service people who move about constantly in society such as schoolchildren, hospital employees, State employees, police personnel and three-wheeler taxi drivers are educated on the first aid treatment methods that should be meted out to heart patients collapsing due to heart failures until they are moved to hospitals for proper medical care.

A person reviving a heart patient through such first aid could thereafter alert the closest hospital through telephone number 110. Soon after receiving this information the hospital would immediately dispatch an ambulance with a special staff including a doctor and other medical equipment to the spot to pick up the patient and take him to hospital for treatment under their special care.