http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_410000.html
SAF recruits to learn CPR
Life-saving skills will equip them to handle emergencies
By Jermyn Chow
Starting next year, all SAF recruits will be trained to use the automated external defibrillator (AED), a machine to help jump-start a failing heart, as well as to manually revive a person using CPR. -- ST FILE PHOTO
SOLDIERS joining the Singapore Armed Forces from next year will be given life-saving lessons to help out in medical emergencies.
All 20,000 recruits taken in every year will be taught to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to manually revive a person with breathing problems or a heart attack.
They will also learn how to operate an automated external defibrillator (AED), a machine which can jump-start the heart by evaluating its rhythm and jolting it into action again with an electric current.
The SAF has asked commercial companies to propose how they would hold half-day classes for soldiers and at what cost. The closing date for this request, which was issued last month, has now since passed.
At present, SAF officers, specialists and medical personnel are given such training. Extending it to all recruits would mean that the entire force is equipped to handle such emergencies.
Defence Ministry spokesman Darius Lim said the move is part of the SAF's plan to modernise its medical corps, and the training will 'enhance the proficiency of servicemen when rendering first aid'.
Doctors interviewed told The Straits Times that Mindef's moves would increase the survival chances of a soldier who suffers cardiac arrest while training.
They said a delay of every minute reduces a person's chances of survival by 7 per cent to 10 per cent.
Since 1995, at least seven full-time national servicemen (NSFs) have died as a result of cardiac arrest.
In 2003, army medics began carrying AEDs to all strenuous training activities that carry the risk of drowning or heart trauma.
Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.
SAF recruits to learn CPR
Life-saving skills will equip them to handle emergencies
By Jermyn Chow
Starting next year, all SAF recruits will be trained to use the automated external defibrillator (AED), a machine to help jump-start a failing heart, as well as to manually revive a person using CPR. -- ST FILE PHOTO
SOLDIERS joining the Singapore Armed Forces from next year will be given life-saving lessons to help out in medical emergencies.
All 20,000 recruits taken in every year will be taught to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to manually revive a person with breathing problems or a heart attack.
They will also learn how to operate an automated external defibrillator (AED), a machine which can jump-start the heart by evaluating its rhythm and jolting it into action again with an electric current.
The SAF has asked commercial companies to propose how they would hold half-day classes for soldiers and at what cost. The closing date for this request, which was issued last month, has now since passed.
At present, SAF officers, specialists and medical personnel are given such training. Extending it to all recruits would mean that the entire force is equipped to handle such emergencies.
Defence Ministry spokesman Darius Lim said the move is part of the SAF's plan to modernise its medical corps, and the training will 'enhance the proficiency of servicemen when rendering first aid'.
Doctors interviewed told The Straits Times that Mindef's moves would increase the survival chances of a soldier who suffers cardiac arrest while training.
They said a delay of every minute reduces a person's chances of survival by 7 per cent to 10 per cent.
Since 1995, at least seven full-time national servicemen (NSFs) have died as a result of cardiac arrest.
In 2003, army medics began carrying AEDs to all strenuous training activities that carry the risk of drowning or heart trauma.
Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.
