Dear TNMCites,
I am very humbled as well as energized to do as much as I can to help our alma mater, our associates, our patients as well as people around us. I am very thankful to Hemant Panchal and all officials of TNMC AAA, USA chapter, for providing me this opportunity to serve you all.
Being an interventional cardiologist after working as an emergency care physician for three years, I have realized that there is nothing more important than saving the lives of people around us. Hemant Panchal and Anubha have worked very hard to revive TNMC AAA, USA with an umbilical connection to our alma mater through the help of Ajit Desai and other colleagues. We have successfully completed many projects of progressively higher value thanks to support from all of you.
We have to create an army of efficient people, all around us, for each other.
My request to every one of you is to support me in saving as many lives as we can, in association with our primary base, TNMC AAA, Mumbai: understanding, teaching and practicing preventive care, and the skills to provide basic life support, including the use of an automatic external defibrillator, while the advanced cardiac support team arrives on the scene. First in Mumbai, then spreading to the entire country.
A letter to our colleagues in Mumbai
Dear Dr. Bharmal, Ajit Desai, Sharad Shenoy, Arshad M and all TNMCite associates,
I migrated from Mumbai in 1980, but I am still attached by heart to TNMC, Nair Hospital and all TNMCites. I have been hearing very sad incidences of sudden death among our TNMC colleagues, family members and friends, as well as others at work or social gatherings and even within hospital settings. When I compare basic life support skills among common people in India and here in the USA, my heart cries out to do something.
If basic life support is not provided within a few minutes, the victim is going to die. Such a person could be anyone around us, including ourselves. In the USA, basic life support, including the use of an AED, is taught round the clock in schools, hospitals, community centers and fire stations. In India, we have lots of people, which is our major advantage, but bystanders often do not know how to help while waiting for a doctor or ambulance. To change this heartbreaking situation, we need to spread this knowledge to everyone.
My thoughts and requests
- Could TNMC offer weekly, or at least monthly, basic life support classes for the general public as well as present and past students and allied professionals, at a nominal cost but open to all?
- Extend similar opportunities to OPD patients, their families and visitors of inpatients.
- Invite affiliated municipal hospitals, clinics, charity clinics and nursing homes to teach and practice basic life support, with refresher videos in waiting areas.
- Stress preventive health checks and close attention to symptoms in every class.
Survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest remains very poor. Knowing the traffic in Mumbai, it is extremely important that local hospitals become expert centers. I am very eager to know your thoughts, suggestions and support. I am sure that, as before, TNMC AAA, USA chapter will provide its support.
Kirit Masrani