India is playing host to people from over 100 countries at Divya Kumbh 2019 at Prayagraj where over almost 15 crore people are expected to visit and take a dip in the holy waters of sangam. The religious and spiritual significance of this platform – which is said to be world’s largest human gathering – is no secret. But considering the vast and wide spread reach of Kumbh mela, many organisations have made it the launch pad for their initiatives.
Medtronic India launched Chiranjeev Hriday programme at Divya Kumbh 2019 – a campaign designed to spread awareness around Sudden Cardiac Arrest and train 10,000+ people in the Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) technique. With close to 8 lakh people dying from Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA), the need for CPR trained – the only technique which can save a person suffering from SCA outside a hospital – personnel is pressing. Despite the large number of casualties related to SCA, 98% of Indians do not know how to perform CPR.
This campaign targets to train first responders and the citizens at large in CPR, thus, enabling them to save lives. In this initiative unique activities like street plays, activation on boats that take pilgrims to sangam, partnership with leading akhadas like Juna Akhada, a CPR express to spread awareness through innovative messaging in the Kumbh Mela region, hoardings, radio jingles, etc. are used – all with the objective of making more and more people aware about SCA and training them to save lives.
Till date, close to 3,000 people have received training for CPR at Divya Kumbh 2019. Sharing views about this initiative, Madan Krishnan, vice president and managing director, Medtronic Indian Subcontinent said, “Hands-only CPR is a powerful tool that takes only 30 minutes to learn and can double or even triple a victim’s chances of survival. At Divya Kumbh 2019 we are focussing to train around 10,000 people at Kumbh Mela from first responders to public at large. Subsequently over the next 6 months, we will be taking these trainings to several cities across the country, reaching out to more than 20,000 people.”
