KOTA SAMARAHAN: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), has created a new record for largest participants in a mass cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) event with a number of 8,188 participants learn how to perform CPR in the country.
Unimas, in conjunction with its Silver Jubilee celebration, successfully organised a mass CPR programme in its main campus in Kota Samarahan, on the 20 September 2017.
Spearheaded by the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the varsity, and supported by other governmental and non-governmental agencies including the Emergency and Trauma Department of Sarawak General Hospital, Emergency and Trauma Department of Sarawak Heart Centre, Pusat Kesihatan UiTM Sarawak, Kota Samarahan Campus, St. Johns Ambulance, Malaysian Red Crescent Society, Malaysian Nurses Association Sarawak Branch, Battalion Pertama Perubatan Kem Muara Tuang, Kota Samarahan Health Clinic and SAINS, this event lasted for a marathon of 12 hours from 8 am to 8pm.
Previously the record was held by the Penang CPR Society on 15 March 2015 with 6806 participants.
Participants came from all walks of life although a majority of them were university students. There were 10 one-hour slots for the participants to choose from.
The event which was held in Dewan Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra (or DeTAR Putra), that could accommodate up to 1,000 participants in its Arena Gemilang hall. The opening session was started by Unimas top management personnel including Vice Chancellor, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Registrar, Bursar,Deans, Directors and all Heads of Departments in Unimas. The purpose of this mass CPR event was to create awareness of as well as to equip the public with the necessary knowledge and skills to identify when someone was in cardiac arrest and to nitiate CPR while awaiting for the arrival of medical help.
The importance of public-initiated CPR (or also known as bystander CPR) cannot be overemphasised as this has been shown to be an essential link from the site when a victims heart stops beating (known as cardiac arrest) to the point of care by the healthcare and ambulance teams. Studies have shown that public-initiated CPR improves the chance for survival for a victim of cardiac arrest that occurs outside of the hospital by up to 2 3 times.
But on the contrary, for every passing minute without CPR and defibrillation, the chances of survival of a cardiac arrest victim decreases by 7 to 10 per cent.
During this event, participants were first given a 15-minute lecture on the importance of public-initiated CPR followed by hands-on practical sessions on how perform CPR on a manikin.
The steps of CPR taught are in accordance to the latest guideline by the American Heart Association, consisting of 30 chest
compressions followed by two rescue breathings.
The event was launched by Unimas Vice Chancellor Professor Datuk Dr Mohamad Kadim Suaidi and the closing ceremony was graced by Assistant Minister of Education and Technological Research Dr. Annuar Rapaee, followed by the official announcement by Nurasyikin Ramli, Senior Research Journalist, representative from the Malaysia Book of Records.
