Taipei program to help cardiac arrest victims

Kao Wei-chun told reporters she hoped the automated external defibrillators (AED), which deliver a shock wave, will be put in place in MRT stations, the National Palace Museum, the Maokung Gondola and the famous skyscraper Taipei 101 by the end of this year.

But the health department has no budget for purchasing the devices, estimated at more than NT$100,000 per unit, Kao said, and is therefore seeking donations from the private sector.

The plan comes as the central government has encouraged the public to learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

If rescuers use CPR and the AED devices, the survival rate of the victim will be increased by 7 percent within one minute after attack, according to Chao Chun-chieh, director of the emergency room of the Taipei City Hospital’s Zhonghsiao branch.

But if only CPR is used, then the survival rate of the victim could be lowered by 7 percent, he added.

“To further increase the survival rate, the health department will promote the combination of CPR and the AED,” Kao said.

Sudden cardiac arrest usually occurs due to abnormal heart rhythms, called arrhythmias.

An AED is a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses the potentially life threatening cardiac arrhythmias of ventricular fibrillation and is able to treat them through defibrillation, the application of electrical therapy which stops the arrhythmia, allowing the heart to re-establish an effective rhythm.

In Taipei, 42 out of every 1,000 people have learned and are certified to perform the life-saving technique CPR, far higher than the rate of at least two out of 1,000 set up by the central government for each city and county.

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