Manila Bulletin
Philippines
Luzon
PHA seeks OK of automated defibrillator bill to reduce heart attack deaths
Philippines
Luzon
PHA seeks OK of automated defibrillator bill to reduce heart attack deaths
PHA seeks OK of automated defibrillator bill to reduce heart attack deaths
Published Jul 3, 2023 04:20 am
CEBU CITY – The Philippine Heart Association (PHA), under its new president Dr. Ronald Cuyco, is calling for the immediate passage of a bill that the organization believes will significantly help decrease deaths caused by heart attack.
Cuyco said the PHA is hoping that lawmakers will soon pass the Automated External Defibrillator Bill which will require private and public places to have defibrillators.
A defibrillator is a device that sends an electric pulse or shock to the heart to restore a normal heartbeat.
“This is a pending bill. We will appeal to our policy makers to pass this. This will be a big help to bring down the mortality rate because heart disease is the top cause of deaths among Filipinos,” said Cuyco who was in Cebu recently to administer the oath of new PHA-Cebu chapter officials.
CUYCO (Photo via Calvin Cordova) Pushing the bill is just one of PHA’s flagship programs meant to reduce the number of deaths caused by heart attacks. Cuyco said the PHA is intensifying its cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)-Ready Philippines by holding regular training sessions. “Another important advocacy is on CPR. We really wanted to train the majority of Filipinos on how to do this CPR because it increases to 30 percent the survival rate of a patient who loses consciousness,” Cuyco said. Having defibrillators or more people who know how to do CPR will be critical in case of a heart attack. “These two advocacies are connected. We want public and private places to have defibrillators that can easily be used in case someone collapses. When we see someone who collapses, most of the time, it's a heart problem. When it's a heart attack or irregular heartbeat, you need to pump or the next thing to do is use a defibrillator. The device will alter the irregular heartbeat so the patient will survive. It will really increase the chances of survival,” said Cuyco. Cuyco added that the focus should be on these two advocacies because of the high cases of deaths due to heart problems. He said that according to the Philippine Statistics Authority, heart attack was the leading cause of death even at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. “That’s why the PHA is doing its best to raise awareness. We want to disseminate the importance of the prevention of the disease and if the disease already exists, we can do some intervention and if something bad happens, we can still do something through CPR and AED (automated external defibrillator),” said Cuyco.
CUYCO (Photo via Calvin Cordova) Pushing the bill is just one of PHA’s flagship programs meant to reduce the number of deaths caused by heart attacks. Cuyco said the PHA is intensifying its cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)-Ready Philippines by holding regular training sessions. “Another important advocacy is on CPR. We really wanted to train the majority of Filipinos on how to do this CPR because it increases to 30 percent the survival rate of a patient who loses consciousness,” Cuyco said. Having defibrillators or more people who know how to do CPR will be critical in case of a heart attack. “These two advocacies are connected. We want public and private places to have defibrillators that can easily be used in case someone collapses. When we see someone who collapses, most of the time, it's a heart problem. When it's a heart attack or irregular heartbeat, you need to pump or the next thing to do is use a defibrillator. The device will alter the irregular heartbeat so the patient will survive. It will really increase the chances of survival,” said Cuyco. Cuyco added that the focus should be on these two advocacies because of the high cases of deaths due to heart problems. He said that according to the Philippine Statistics Authority, heart attack was the leading cause of death even at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. “That’s why the PHA is doing its best to raise awareness. We want to disseminate the importance of the prevention of the disease and if the disease already exists, we can do some intervention and if something bad happens, we can still do something through CPR and AED (automated external defibrillator),” said Cuyco.