COMMUNITY-BASED programmes to reduce sudden cardiac deaths are not being linked up with the national emergency service because the €800,000 allocated for the appointment of 11 approved Health Service Executive posts is now “blocked”, an Oireachtas committee heard yesterday.

The Government should abolish VAT on defibrillators to help save the lives of more people who suffer heart attacks, it was claimed today.

FOUR generations of Lucinda Cassidy’s family suffer from a medical condition that claims the lives of an average 18 people a day in Ireland.

A major awareness campaign on Sudden Cardiac Death is being launched today.