An Emergency Resuscitation Skills Trainer, Dr Femi Ogunremi, has called for adequate training of personnel in Basic Life Support Skills (BLS), especially among the health personnel in Nigeria.
Ogunremi, who is also a General Practitioner and Medical Educator, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Saturday that there was a need to train people.
He is also the Chief Executive Officer, Monitor Healthcare Ltd, a Lagos-based medical telecommunication company.
Ogunremi said that the many cases of slumping and dying experienced in the country could be averted if only people were skilled with BLS.
“It is shocking that a lot of health personnel cannot resuscitate patients effectively.
“Shocking, as it is expected that health care practitioners should know this, to help patients when in need of resuscitation.
“If not done well or on time, that is, within one to two minutes of collapses, the brain is starved of oxygen.
“If done well and we have a good chain of survival as nation, we can save 60 per cent of those dying,’’ he said.
The medical doctor stated that part of the challenge for the inadequacy was that the country’s health system did not mandate updates and enforce such vital skills.
According to him, in the United Kingdom, it is mandatory that you renew your certificate on yearly basis.
“In a normal condition, the brain survives only five minutes before irreversible damage.
“We need to have a chain of survival that is strong, where people are skilled to recognise conditions that can lead to collapses and measures to avert them.
“For example, low blood sugar can cause slumping, but taking ordinary coke can avert it.
“Then, if we miss this, we need to skill people to be able to quickly recognise that slumping has occurred.
“Also, be able to commence effective resuscitation as soon as possible, that way, we can buy time for the patient.
“Then, we need to start to work on making automated external defibrillators available to jumpstart the heart,’’ Ogunremi said.
The educator remarked that he carried out training for health professionals, students, and the general public on BLS and Immediate Life Support skills.
He, however, described the funding as a challenge and called for collaboration to achieve the training of Nigerians on the skills to save lives.
“I urge the government, corporate organisations, and well-meaning Nigerians to invest in training people, to acquire these skills to save people from slumping and dying.’’
emergency resuscitation/NAN…
