CARDIOPULMONARY RESUSCITATION

CARDIOPULMONARY RESUSCITATION

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(Training in schools): **

15.

Dr Fatimah Lateef asked the Minister for Education if there are plans to incorporate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training into the school curriculum especially from secondary school level onwards as many cardiac arrests happen in the community and not in hospitals and healthcare institutions.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: The effective execution of CPR requires both technical skills and mental readiness. An individual trained in CPR further needs experience and maturity to assess whether a crisis situation needs one to effect an appropriate intervention through CPR or not.

In secondary schools, First Aid is a core component in all Uniformed Group (UG) training programmes. The First Aid course is at the basic level which includes teaching students to render first aid treatment for cuts and bruises, and the dressing of wounds. However, the First Aid Course does not include CPR. CPR requires additional training and certification. Only Uniformed Groups like Red Cross, SJAB and National Civil Defence Cadet Corps that have trained instructors include CPR as a compulsory training component as part of an extended First Aid package.

CPR requires judgement and technical expertise to be appropriately and effectively executed in a given crisis situation. The training of CPR requires skilled instructors who need to be re-certified every three years. Likewise, trainees need to be re-certified regularly.

It would therefore be best left to professional bodies with qualified trainers to promote CPR within the community rather than to incorporate CPR into the school curriculum.

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