SINGAPORE: The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) will be installing more automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in housing estates, as part of the new Save-a-Life initiative, which aims to help Singaporeans respond better to cardiac arrest cases.
AEDs are used to treat sudden cardiac arrest.
There are currently 160 AEDs installed at the lift lobbies of several constituencies, including Bedok, Bukit Panjang, Choa Chu Kang, Pasir Ris West, Radin Mas, and Tampines West - places with a high number of elderly residents and also a high number of cardiac arrest cases.
However, the SCDF hopes to provide about 240 more, with one AED for every couple of HDB blocks. There are also plans to install them in public spaces around the island.
Besides providing more AED and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training to the public, the SCDF has also launched a mobile application to alert responders to cardiac arrest cases.
"In an emergency, for example in a cardiac arrest, if you're able to respond more quickly - that is a great advantage," said Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean. "And if you're with a friend, for example, no one can respond faster than you because you're right beside him or her. So if you're able to do something for him or her there and then, it's faster than anybody else could respond."
- CNA/ek