KOTA KINABALU: St. John Ambulance Malaysia, Sabah organising (CPR) cardiopulmonary resuscitation and (AED) automated external defibrillator awareness seminar talk tomorrow (May 14).

The event will be held at Luyang Community Centre, Foh Sang here which was founded by Luyang assemblyman Phoong Jin Zhe back in 2018.

The centre is to provide a variety of community activities and programmes for the people of Luyang.

In 2021, the Department of Statistics Malaysia in 2021 stated ischaemic heart diseases become the principal causes of deaths for Malaysians.

The number of successful rescue operations from the causes of cardiac arrest were significantly low, and the main reason for the low rescue rate was that witnesses at the scene failed to perform CPR and missed the opportunities of rescuing while waiting for medical personnel to rescue them.

Sabah St John communications officer Jansen Sai Jia Sheng stressed that there are many people who could not perform CPR techniques and skills in the country, so the use of AED (Automated External Defibrillator) has become very important.

“The use of AED does not require a professional background, and ordinary people can master the operation method after receiving certain training or following the instructions,” he said in a statement.

In 2020, the total number of deaths in Malaysia was 166,507, of which 109,155 or 65.6 per cent were medically proven deaths, 18,515 deaths from ischemic heart disease accounted for 17.0%, followed by pneumonia (11.4%), cerebrovascular disease (8.3%), traffic accidents (2.9%) and malignant tumours of the trachea, bronchi and lungs (2.5%).

Sai added that through the session, he hopes to deliver some value and make the public understand the importance of first aid.

“St. John Ambulance Team of Sabah is also planning to organise more seminar and medical training of first aid kit in the future, as well as extensive training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills and the use of first aid equipment.

“Improve public awareness of CPR & AEDs, and make first aid knowledge a critical skill for the public.”