Chandigarh Health Secretary's timely CPR saves visitor's life

Chandigarh, January 18

Timely cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) given by Chandigarh Health Secretary Yashpal Garg saved the life of a visitor who collapsed in the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) office due to a suspected heart attack on Tuesday morning.

Janak Kumar, resident of Sector 41-A, was visiting the CHB office in connection with a hearing before the Secretary, Chandigarh Housing Board, when he collapsed inside the office chamber.

He was immediately put in a chair and CPR was provided by Garg, also the Chief Executive Officer, CHB. After the CPR process for about a minute, Kumar regained consciousness, said the official.

Old video comes in handy

I have no prior training, but had seen a video in which doctor uses CPR to revive patient who collapses in chair… I did whatever came to my mind. There was no time to waste. — Yashpal Garg, UT Health Secy & CEO, CHB

The patient was shifted in an official vehicle to the Emergency of the Government Multi-Speciality Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16, where he was kept under observation.

Garg said: “I have no training in giving CPR, but had seen a video on a news channel in which a patient sitting in front of the doctor suddenly collapses in the chair. The doctor comes to the patient and saves him using the same technique, with the patient sitting in the chair itself. The incident had happened around 2 months ago somewhere in India. I was aware of the fact that the process adopted by me might not have worked, but I did whatever came to my mind at that moment. There was no time to waste on other things. The visitor needed immediate help.”

The CPR is an emergency lifesaving procedure performed if the heart stops beating due to various reasons such as heart attack, stroke, electrocution or drowning.