Columbia Asia Hospital, Ahmedabad, Dispenses Free Basic Life-Saving Training to the Public

2026-08-07 06:05:22 Health and Fitness

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Columbia Asia Hospital?s Emergency department provided a one-day Basic Life-Saving (BLS) training certification to those who attended
Participants included school children, university students, corporate professionals
Ahmedabad, 25th July 2016: With an aim to evoke the ?Good Samaritan? spirit among citizens, Columbia Asia Hospital, Ahmedabad, organized a one-day certification training on Basic Life Support (BLS) techniques for people of the city today.

It is a part of their initiative called ?Good Samaritans? begun last year. Under the purview of the campaign, the hospital imparts paramedic training to thousands of people, including ambulance drivers, traffic police, media people, school children, and senior citizens, with a view to make them participatory citizens.

The BLS training included simple techniques of minimizing pain immediately after a fall, the right way of dealing with a burn, knowing first-response treatment can minimize damage, prevent disability, and even techniques of saving lives. Often, due to traffic jams and the lack of civic sense, ambulances are not able to reach patients in time. It is in times like these that even basic training in first aid management can help the ailing patient.

The program by Columbia Asia Hospital, equips individuals to intervene to help people ? on the roads, in offices, at home ? whenever a medical emergency strikes. For a patient in a medical emergency, such as a cardiac arrest or a road accident, the right emergency response can make a difference of life and death.

Dr Bhavesh Patel, Consultant-Emergency Medicine, Columbia Asia Hospital, Ahmedabad, addressed a gathering of 30 people along with Emergency Medical Technicians, and imparted training on administering first aid and handling medical emergencies as a matter of first response. The training was conducted in line with standards established by American Heart Association Guidelines and included demonstrations by experts.

Dr Patel said, ?Imagine a scenario in any workplace in Ahmedabad, where a worker collapses with a sudden cardiac arrest. It is left to colleagues to take immediate steps to revive him/her before an ambulance arrives. Hardly any non-medical person is trained to act in such a situation. Not only do we need awareness about basic reactions, but we also need to demystify some common misconceptions. For example, we immediately try to pour water into the mouth of a person who has fainted, when this can actually choke the person, rather than revive him/her?.

?In the West, a great deal of emphasis is put on emergency medical response. This includes training people in basic life-saving skills of identifying a stroke in progress, administering CPR, preventing profuse bleeding that could be fatal, and other steps to be taken in critical conditions when a person collapses, suffers a heart attack or gets electrocuted. In India unfortunately, most people do not know how to react when faced with a medical emergency at home or on the road. Recognizing this glaring gap we were prompted to launch this activity through which we will train multiple sets of people in first aid and life-saving skills in a series of sessions,? Dr Patel said.

Primarily, the motive of BLS is to revive a patient, promote sufficient blood circulation along with providing the patient a clear airway to breathe. BLS does not include the use of drugs or invasive skills or medical equipment. The BLS program aims not just at giving people the skills to deal with emergencies, but also aims at creating more involved citizens and more caring human beings.

The eminent hospital is going to conduct the BLS training every third week of the month, throughout the year with a hope for a bigger participation of people to become a part of the ?Good Samaritan Community?.

After the training session, Certificates of Training were also given to the trainees.

About Columbia Asia Hospitals Pvt. Ltd.

Columbia Asia Hospitals Pvt. Ltd. is the only company in India to utilize 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) route in the hospital sector.

About Columbia Asia Group of Companies

The Columbia Asia Group is owned by more than 150 private equity companies, fund management organizations and individual investors. The group currently operates eleven facilities in India and has presence in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Kolkata, Mysore, Patiala and Pune. The company also operates hospitals in Malaysia (11), Vietnam (3), and Indonesia (3). The Indian management operations are managed from its office in Bangalore.