Manipal Hospitals Bengaluru today organized ‘You can save life anywhere’ campaign in the city to mark World Ambulance Day. Aimed at creating awareness and training people with life saving techniques, the event witnessed around 200 people participating in the MARS ambulance rally and training of CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) and AED (Automated External Defibrillator). The campaign was flagged off by Mr. P. Harishekaran, Inspector General of Police and Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) and Ms. Shwetha R. Prasad, Kannada Actress in the presence of Dr. H Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman- Manipal Hospitals.
The campaign kicked off with MARS ambulance rally, which started from Manipal Hospitals in order to spread the message of ‘Give Way Save a Life’ to public, followed by inauguration of the poster exhibition on life saving techniques and training session. The training programs included CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) which is used to help people having sudden cardiac arrest and AED (Automated External Defibrillator) which is used to restore oxygenated blood flow to the vital organs.
People can further avail these training programs by booking via the hospital’s website across all the hospitals of Manipal. Further, every second Saturday of the month have been dedicated to this training. The Hospital aims to train people in batches starting with admin staff of metro and malls in Bangalore, police, students, general public and gym instructors this year.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. H Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman, Manipal Hospitals said, “In today’s fast paced era where lot of people are injured or lose their lives in road traffic accidents, ambulances play an important role in saving their lives. However, ambulances are not given their due importance by the citizens and many a time they do not make way for them. It is extremely important to sensitize people on how critical it is to give way to an ambulance and if people understand this, then half the battle is won. In order for the same, Manipal Hospitals through this campaign, aims to educate and train general public the usage of handy life saving techniques like CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) and AED (Automated External Defibrillator).”
Manipal Ambulance Response Service (MARS) was launched in 2015 and since its inception, it has been ensuring the best outcomes in terms of saving lives and bringing smiles back on the faces of its patients and their loved ones. Enabled with GPS based live vehicle tracking system and equipped with critical lifesaving equipment’s, Manipal’s fleet of ambulance have saved 23984 lives until date. It is also equipped with Central Monitoring System, which relays images of patient condition direct to Emergency Response Centre. The state-of-the technology enables the ambulance to deal with any kind of crucial emergencies.
Speaking on the occasion Mr. P. Harishekaran, Inspector General of Police and Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Bengaluru city said, “It is essential for each and every one of us to know the importance of ambulances and the role they play in saving lives. It is not only the traffic police’s responsibility to make way for ambulances but all the general public’s. They need to feel empathetic and be responsive. I feel privileged to be part of this noble and unique initiative of Manipal Hospitals and congratulate each and every one behind this.”
Supporting the initiative Ms. Shwetha R Prasad, Kannada Actress said, “I am extremely delighted to be part of this great cause and appreciate each and every one of you. Manipal Hospitals’ ‘You can save life anywhere’ campaign is truly remarkable and I hope the message ‘Give Way Save a Life’ spreads to all the public.
