Defibrillators for heart patients on Airport line

Like Toronto, Shanghai, San Francisco and Washington metro rail stations, all metro stations covered by the Delhi’s Airport Metro Express have been equipped with automatic defibrillators.

Like Toronto, Shanghai, San Francisco and Washington metro rail stations, all metro stations covered by the Delhi’s Airport Metro Express have been equipped with automatic defibrillators.

HT Image

This will be a life-saving arrangement for commuters who need urgent medical attention.

All the six metro stations on the 23-km high-speed airport metro are equipped with Automated External Defibrillators (AED), which are portable electronic devices that automatically diagnose a potentially life threatening cardiac arrest in a patient. Defibrillators are simple to use and can be accessed by anyone facing a medical emergency, such as a sudden cardiac arrest.

“Reliance Airport Metro is the first and only metro service in India to install AED for commuters. The device treats patient through defibrillation —the application of electrical shock to allow the heart to re-establish an effective rhythm,” said an official of Reliance Infrastructure, the concessionaire company.

Medically, if cardiac arrest patients are not attended to immediately, it can lead to irreversible brain damage within three to five minutes.

Once a commuter experiences a heart attack, basic Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is immediately started along-with AED. This process is continued till Advanced Life Support ambulance arrives and takes the patient to a hospital. “Call time for ambulance is about 15 minutes,” officials said.

“We have tied-up with the Delhi Ambulance Services and M K Ambulance to take patients to the nearby hospital for treatment. We have trained station controllers, train operators, station managers and customer care personnel to handle AED,” said a company spokesperson.

Currently, 15 AEDs are installed at the metro stations and this will be increased to 18 in the future. IGI Airport (T3), Aerocity and Dhaula Kuan have three AEDs at each station — two at platform and one at concourse level — while New Delhi, Shivaji Stadium and Dwarka Sector 21, have two AEDs at each station — one at platform and one at concourse level. Soon all the stations will be equipped with three AEDs.

An AED is low-maintenance, light-weight, rugged, safe and effective and can be easily installed in crowded public areas.