‘Dismal’ heart attack survival rates

PEOPLE who suffer heart attacks in this country have a dismal chance of survival due to a lack of equipment and expertise, a conference for members of the emergency services was told yesterday.

Dr Cathal O’Donnell, consultant in emergency medicine in the mid-west, said this situation has arisen because of poor public awareness of CPR-resuscitation done with hand compression and a lack of defibrillators.

Addressing more than 400 emergency services workers and volunteers at the Resus conference in Limerick, Dr O’Donnell said: “We have a dismal outcome from cardiac arrest or sudden cardiac death. Less than 5% survive. On average, 14 people die from cardiac arrest every 24 hours. Many of them die because they don’t get CPR or a defibrillator to them in the first four to five minutes. Irish lay people do not know how to do basic CPR and this is the main reason that people die.”