Health Minister Popi Kanari commemorated World Heart ‘Restart’ Day with a speech at the University of Cyprus on Monday.
The day has been held on October 16 every year since 2012 and covers both the techniques of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the use of defibrillators.
“With the motto ‘all the citizens of the world can save a life’, we aim to raise awareness and educate the public to increase the chance of survival for people who suffer a cardiac arrest,” she said.
She also pointed out that the first few minutes following a cardiac arrest are “seen as very important”.
“If bystanders immediately start CPR and make timely use of a defibrillator, they can increase a cardiac arrest victim’s chance of survival by 90 per cent. Otherwise, if none of them intervene, the victim’s chance of survival decreases by 10 per cent for every minute that passes,” she said.
Speaking about statistics, she said 400,000 people each year in the European Union die from cardiac arrests outside hospitals each year, while the survival rate of cardiac arrests remains below 10 per cent.
She added that a cardiac arrest “can strike apparently healthy people, at any age, at any time, often without warning”.
“This whole campaign is focused on reducing deaths from sudden cardiac arrests. The reduction of deaths will be achieved primarily by educating people,” she said.
To this end, she spoke about the various initiatives her ministry has taken to educate people on what to do should someone have a cardiac arrest in their presence.
These include “frequent training sessions” for schoolteachers. Since the beginning of the year, she said, more than 2,000 primary, secondary, and technical school teachers have been given training on what to do should someone suffer a cardiac arrest.
These training sessions include courses on giving first aid training to children so that the next generation can be educated on the matter.
She also spoke of the “Tour for Life” programme, in which the non-profit organisation Spiritus Invictus travels around the country offering people first aid and CPR training free of charge, while also delivering free defibrillators to communities in need.
In addition, she also pointed out a new programme launched last week which involves the placing of public access defibrillators in boxes, which people can access and use in the event someone suffers a cardiac arrest.
She pointed out that one had been placed in Eleftherias Square in central Nicosia, which is monitored by CCTV.
She closed her speech by saying her ministry “has always acted to preserve human life and promote health” and believes that “every life is worth saving”.