Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) will be arranging Basic Life Support (BLS) training sessions for the general public at 48 mosques across the country today (September 28, 2019). According to a press release, the aim of these sessions is to train citizens to provide initial aid for sudden cardiac or respiratory arrest when essential facilities to save life are none existent.
Incharge PIMA Lifesaving Project, Dr Abdul Aziz Memon said that the majority of the cardiac arrests in our country happen at home or at workplace and many lives can be saved with simple Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training that is simple to learn. "CPR is an emergency first-aid procedure that is used to maintain respiration and blood circulation in a person, whose breathing and heartbeat suddenly stops." he added.
This Lifesaving project was first initiated on a large scale by British Islamic Medical Association and later it was adopted by all doctors associations affiliated with the Federation of Islamic Medical Associations (FIMA). September 28 is marked to hold life support sessions at mosques all over the world. This project is all the more important for third world countries like Pakistan where emergency services are none existent in far flung areas of the country.
As part of this campaign, PIMA has planned to arrange sessions in 16 cities of Punjab, KP, Sindh and Azad Kashmir initially. Many more such sessions will be needed once this pilot projects concludes, to educate masses across the country.