Burdened by the rising cases of cardiac arrest in Nigeria, the Chief Medical Director, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi-Araba, Prof. Chris Bode, has called for more enlightenment of the public on immediate resuscitation of a patient suffering from cardiac arrest.

Bode, who was represented by the Chairman Medical Advisory Committee, Prof. Wasiu Adeyomo, said at this present age no one should die from preventable deaths like cardiac arrest. He said though there are experts who can handle cardiac arrest, the focus should be on those who are not experts, especially administering first aid to the patient, while the experts are on their way.

“Anybody should be able to start something to help the patient before help arrives. Everybody needs to have the skill to check for the responsiveness of any patient that goes down due to cardiac arrest.

“You start chest compression then call for help. That period is very important. If you don’t do anything, you might lose the patient before help comes. That is why we need to make it public that once someone suffers cardiac arrest, start the resuscitation process. We are currently training those who are not medical doctors,” he explained

Speaking during the 2019 World Anaesthesia day held in Lagos, a consultant anaesthetist and critical care physician, Dr. Oluwamuyiwa Rotimi, added that the knowledge gotten from resuscitation goes a long way to save a life, as no one is immune to cardiac arrest. He established the 3Cs needed for Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) in Cardiac arrest, which includes a check for responsiveness, call for help and compress the chest

“All citizens can save a life because not all cardiac arrest happens in a hospital environment. The essence of the event is to emphasize the importance of high-quality CPR, train non-clinical staffs on how to commerce CPR and what it entails is just two hands”.

According to another consultant anaesthetist, Dr Adesida Adeniyi, “Anaesthesia helps in achieving the goal of a surgical procedure. The patient needs to be asleep, pain-free and most importantly should not remember what was done during the procedure.”

He urged the government to take special interest in the profession and encourage individuals to study diploma in anaesthesia due to shortage of manpower, as danger locks around when there is no anaesthetist.