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Indian American physician Dr Vemuri S. Murthy has a mission. He believes that life-saving emergency help to a person suffering from a cardiac arrest and desperately fighting for life can be given, with basic emergency skills, by most people. The Andhra Pradesh born doctor, who is an alumnus of Guntur Medical College and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, received surgical and emergency training and later became an anesthesiologist in the USA. He has seen and managed incidents of cardiac arrests in patients of all ages and has become a strong advocate for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) education and training, not just for doctors, but also for the larger community. “I have personal experience in successfully managing a medical emergency in my own family outside a hospital setting with CPR,” he says. Anecdotes about sports people dying while playing games or marathoners collapsing during an event, have all convinced him about the need to train ordinary people with CPR skills. If performed immediately, CPR can double or triple a cardiac arrest victim’s chance of survival, according to Dr Murthy.
“It is disheartening to see patients with reversible health conditions die suddenly due to lack of both community health awareness and timely emergency care based on evidence-based resuscitation practices,” says Murthy, who moved to Chicago in 1980 and was chairman of the anesthesiology department at West Suburban Medical Center, Oak Park, Illinois, for many years. And it’s not just the USA, Murthy is seen as a pioneer of resuscitation medicine in India as well. Closely connected with his Indian roots, Murthy visits India at least once every year and as visiting professor at several Indian medical colleges, promotes resuscitation courses. He has piloted a resuscitation curriculum programme in medical colleges affiliated with Dr NTR University of Health Sciences in Andhra Pradesh in 2012. “Thousands of physicians, medical students, and nurses have been trained under the Indian medical university resuscitation education and training model,” he says. He has collaborated with Indian peers in resuscitation research projects including the Warangal Area Cardiac Arrest Registry. He has also initiated an Indo-US CPR research project involving resident physicians from US medical universities.
“Saving lives with CPR best practices should be the top healthcare priority for every nation. Bystander CPR with defibrillation is a blessing of contemporary medicine enhancing the survival of sudden cardiac arrest victims.,” says Murthy. Bystander CPR is an emergency procedure that can be administered by a non-medical person who is close to the emergency situation physically, but not necessarily a part of an official emergency response team. Murthy believes that many lives can be saved by providing training to larger number of people and he is passionate about sharing his knowledge and expertise on this aspect of heart health. He also stresses the need to be aware of the ‘good samaritan’ laws of each country and state for providing CPR bystander help.
Dr Murthy is affiliated with various high profile US medical organisations and institutions. He has been affiliated with the American Heart Association for about three decades, but at the core of his mission is the simple idea of saving lives of those suffering a sudden cardiac arrest – which is recognised by a sudden collapse without any breathing, pulse or consciousness – with the help of bystanders. He organised CPR training sessions for US Congressmen, Illinois legislators, and Indians visiting the US. “I am thankful to Indian consul generals in Chicago and Sudhakar Dalela, the deputy chief of mission, Embassy of India, Washington DC, for supporting the programmes for Indian Americans,” Murthy says.
An adjunct faculty in the department of emergency medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, Murthy points to the fact that heart attacks strike South Asian men and women at younger ages, and as a result, both morbidity and mortality are higher among them compared to any other ethnic group. Research shows that South Asians, even in the US, are at four-times greater risk of heart disease than their western counterparts and have a greater chance of having a heart attack before 50 years of age. This is a cause of concern for the Indian American community. Dr Murthy is the founder of Chicago Medical Society’s community CPR project Saving More Illinois Lives through Education, offering CPR programmes since 2012.
“Almost one in three South Asians may die of heart disease before they’re 65 years. In India, heart disease remains the number one cause of death. Common risk factors are smoking and a diet high in sugar, salt, refined grains and fat, and lack of regular exercise. A large number of South Asians appear to have insulin resistance resulting in diabetes, which leads to a significant number of heart-related problems,” says Dr Murthy, who also considers it his mission of saving lives through effective preventive measures. His mantra is: “The most gratifying act of humanity is the life-saving emergency help rendered to a person, desperately fighting for life, with basic emergency skills learnt with minimal effort.”
“It is disheartening to see patients with reversible health conditions die suddenly due to lack of both community health awareness and timely emergency care based on evidence-based resuscitation practices,” says Murthy, who moved to Chicago in 1980 and was chairman of the anesthesiology department at West Suburban Medical Center, Oak Park, Illinois, for many years. And it’s not just the USA, Murthy is seen as a pioneer of resuscitation medicine in India as well. Closely connected with his Indian roots, Murthy visits India at least once every year and as visiting professor at several Indian medical colleges, promotes resuscitation courses. He has piloted a resuscitation curriculum programme in medical colleges affiliated with Dr NTR University of Health Sciences in Andhra Pradesh in 2012. “Thousands of physicians, medical students, and nurses have been trained under the Indian medical university resuscitation education and training model,” he says. He has collaborated with Indian peers in resuscitation research projects including the Warangal Area Cardiac Arrest Registry. He has also initiated an Indo-US CPR research project involving resident physicians from US medical universities.
“Saving lives with CPR best practices should be the top healthcare priority for every nation. Bystander CPR with defibrillation is a blessing of contemporary medicine enhancing the survival of sudden cardiac arrest victims.,” says Murthy. Bystander CPR is an emergency procedure that can be administered by a non-medical person who is close to the emergency situation physically, but not necessarily a part of an official emergency response team. Murthy believes that many lives can be saved by providing training to larger number of people and he is passionate about sharing his knowledge and expertise on this aspect of heart health. He also stresses the need to be aware of the ‘good samaritan’ laws of each country and state for providing CPR bystander help.
Dr Murthy is affiliated with various high profile US medical organisations and institutions. He has been affiliated with the American Heart Association for about three decades, but at the core of his mission is the simple idea of saving lives of those suffering a sudden cardiac arrest – which is recognised by a sudden collapse without any breathing, pulse or consciousness – with the help of bystanders. He organised CPR training sessions for US Congressmen, Illinois legislators, and Indians visiting the US. “I am thankful to Indian consul generals in Chicago and Sudhakar Dalela, the deputy chief of mission, Embassy of India, Washington DC, for supporting the programmes for Indian Americans,” Murthy says.
An adjunct faculty in the department of emergency medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, Murthy points to the fact that heart attacks strike South Asian men and women at younger ages, and as a result, both morbidity and mortality are higher among them compared to any other ethnic group. Research shows that South Asians, even in the US, are at four-times greater risk of heart disease than their western counterparts and have a greater chance of having a heart attack before 50 years of age. This is a cause of concern for the Indian American community. Dr Murthy is the founder of Chicago Medical Society’s community CPR project Saving More Illinois Lives through Education, offering CPR programmes since 2012.
“Almost one in three South Asians may die of heart disease before they’re 65 years. In India, heart disease remains the number one cause of death. Common risk factors are smoking and a diet high in sugar, salt, refined grains and fat, and lack of regular exercise. A large number of South Asians appear to have insulin resistance resulting in diabetes, which leads to a significant number of heart-related problems,” says Dr Murthy, who also considers it his mission of saving lives through effective preventive measures. His mantra is: “The most gratifying act of humanity is the life-saving emergency help rendered to a person, desperately fighting for life, with basic emergency skills learnt with minimal effort.”
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