Doctors launch campaign to turn citizens into first responders for emergencies

The Karnataka team of doctors who have initiated the process of turning civilians into first responders. Credits: Saviour

Doctors launch the “Saviour” initiative in order to train civilians in first aid and pre-hospital care in order to provide life support to emergency and accident victims.

In cases of accidents and emergencies, when the patient is hanging by a thread to the threshold of life, even the slightest of care can make all the difference. With this in mind, a group of like-minded doctors and tech specialists have got together to launch the “Saviour Campaign” in association with the Department of Health and Family Welfare. The campaign involves the professionals training people in providing life support and pre-hospital first response care to emergency and accident victims.

Maneesh Rai, a cardiologist at KMC Hospital, Mangaluru and a member of the “Saviour Campaign” told an Indian media that the idea of starting the campaign was initiated with the launch of the “Saviour” app in May. The concept is the brainchild of Dr. Rai himself, along with Dikshit Rai of Code Craft Technologies.

The app which was developed by Code Craft technologies helped in arranging and coordinating ambulances from 13 different hospitals in and around Mangaluru in case of accidents and emergencies. The service is to be prompt and quick. The app is allowed to make a call from the victim to the members of “Saviour”, who would then dispatch a team of first response volunteers. The spot is located via the GPS signal of the victim’s phone in association with the verbal instructions provided to the dispatcher.

Jeedhu Radhakrishnan, head of the Department of Emergency, KMC Hospital, said that as of the moment, 400 volunteers have been trained. Out of them 300 are master trainers. “We needed to increase the number of people trained in emergency life support and essential accident care and hence, approached deputy commissioner Sasikanth Senthil S.,” Radhakrishnan said. According to Radhakrishnan, the deputy commisioner had agreed with their campaign’s goal. In response, the district administration is getting actively involved in the campaign.

Dr. Rai said that those who are interested in getting trained can register their names as volunteers on their website. As of the moment, the 300 master trainers being trained are mainly from the various government departments including the police, health, education and various other departments.

The master trainers underwent training simultaneously at nine different hospitals which is a part of the initiative. They also took part in a conference on medical emergency and pre-hospital care held at the Mangaluru Town Hall on September 23.

With the propensity of accidents in India, this initiative has been heralded as a great positive move across the country.

Bratati Ghosh, an Emergency Room nurse at The Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research in Kolkata told Media India Group, “It is a brilliant scheme especially in a state as tech savvy as Karnataka. In fact, this is a move that should be implemented across the country. An app like this could save dozens if not hundreds.”