M S Ramaiah Medical College launches HeartRescue India

The programme will work to reduce mortality of premature death caused by acute cardiovascular events

M S Ramaiah Medical College, M S Ramaiah Memorial Hospital; MSR Advanced Learning Centre, University of Illinois at Chicago and Medtronic announced the launch of HeartRescue India. Reportedly, the programme, a $4.4 million collaborative effort funded by Medtronic Philanthropy, is designed to expand access to life-saving interventions for cardiovascular events such as heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest.

While M S Ramaiah Medical College will lead the effort, other HeartRescue India partners will contribute varied levels of support and expertise: Research Triangle Institute International will help coordinate global and country level activities. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington will drive monitoring and evaluation. The University of Illinois Center for Global Health and the University of Arizona Emergency Medicine Research Center will provide emergency care technical expertise.

HeartRescue India’s goal is to implement a model of care for patients with acute cardiac emergencies in the community that minimises critical delays to treatment and saves lives.

Building on a successful five-year programme in the US, HeartRescue India partners will coordinate implementation in Bengaluru, which will include community outreach efforts to improve knowledge of the signs and symptoms of heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest, teaching families how to call for emergency help and if necessary perform life-saving CPR.

Partners will collaborate with regional emergency medical services to identify and reach heart attack patients more quickly and provide ambulance transport to receiving hospitals for life-saving care.

“Our plan is to work with local and national partners to design an integrated and scalable emergency response system using community health responders, 108 emergency dispatch, and designated hub and spoke hospitals,” says Dr Aruna C Ramesh, head of emergency medicine and trauma at M S Ramaiah Hospital, and the principal investigator on the HeartRescue India programme. “We believe we can substantially boost the number of patients who receive timely, effective care, and ultimately save many more lives in the process,” adds Ramesh.

“Improving access to healthcare is at the core of what we do,” says Milind Shah, a Board Member of Medtronic Philanthropy, and VP, Medtronic South Asia and MD, Medtronic India. “Our global and local partnerships lead to a strengthened continuum of care for the patients we serve, which in turn leads to better outcomes, and healthier communities,” Shah adds.