Kashmir: Following Doctor's Instructions On Phone, CRPF Jawan Saves Poll Officer's Life

A CRPF jawan turned out to be a life-saving angel for a Kashmiri polling officer during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Kashmir. The election officer on Thursday suffered a severe heart attack, and a CRPF jawan on the spot saved the officer’s life by providing CPR. (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation)

The CRPF personnel Surinder Kumar of 28 battalion, was posted on booth in the government girls’ school in Buchpora. He dialed the CRPF Doctor Suneem, when he noticed that the presiding officer Ahsaan-ul-Haq was feeling unwell. He was initially given first-aid, but fell unconscious within a minute and he suffered a heart attack at 9 pm.

Jawan was trained by Red Cross

Jawan Kumar is among the 50 CRPF jawans who were trained by the Indian Red Cross Society to provide medical assistance in times of need. He called the numbers 100, 102 and 108 but immediate help wasn’t possible, so he called his doctor Suneem Khan in Kashmir.

Doctor gave instructions on phone

Doctor Khan immediately figured out that the patient was experiencing a heart attack and instructed Kumar, on phone, to give artificial respiration with CPR and a mouth-to-mouth, which he did it for 50 minutes until the arrival of an ambulance. He also performed 30 chest compressions and three mouth-to-mouth respirations as per instructions given by the doctor.

The ambulance took about one hour to reach and Haq was taken to SKIMS (Sher – i – Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences), The doctors there said that the initial intervention of the CRPF jawan by giving CPR, had saved the patient’s life.

Khan told TOI, “Surinder showed great acumen during the crisis and followed all the instructions correctly. He also added that this was the fourth life which he had saved by giving instructions over phone.

Surinder Kumar (36) from Panipat, had previously served in the UN mission in Liberia and was on his second posting in Kashmir. He told TOI, “I owe most of it to my parents who inculcated these values, and whatever I have done is a result of my fundamental upbringing.”

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