Amid rising incidents of heart attack deaths reportedly among youths in the country, the Gujarat BJP has decided to form "swastha swayamsevaks" of party workers, who will be "trained" to perform Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) to help in cases of emergency around them. The party is all set to initiate its first leg of training Sunday for party workers in 38 medical colleges across the state. Dharmendra Gajjar of BJP's state doctor cell and Rajni Patel, party general secretary, said several young persons have been losing their lives in heart attacks in recent times, prompting the party to undertake the CPR training. Gajjar, who also showed a CPR manikin that will be used in the training sessions Sunday, said, "The idea behind starting a public movement on CPR awareness is that we will probably be able to save more lives. The first leg will begin on Sunday across 38 medical colleges in Gujarat, where 1,200-1,300 intensivists and anaesthetists will train our party workers from 9 am to 6 pm in one-hour sessions." He added that the initiative is backed by the Indian Society of Anaesthesiologists (ISA), which will also give certificates to the party workers who undertake the training. There will be a PowerPoint presentation and hands-on training on 12-15 manikins at each centre. "They (The party workers) will also get a certificate of 'swastha swayamsevak' signed by (Gujarat BJP President) CR Paatil," said Gajjar. While Paatil will launch the training session in Surat, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel will be simultaneously present at Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad. "We are starting with the party workers, who will be registered at the venues, and so we will also have a definite figure on how many people have been trained. We will also undertake monthly training for police personnel, teachers and university students in the near future. After Covid-19, we are seeing an increased number of deaths among young people due to heart attacks. The idea is to ensure that people around a person suffering an attack could help until an emergency medical team arrives. The idea is to train as many common people as possible," said Rajni Patel.
