BAGUIO CITY – The City Council approved on first reading a proposed ordinance providing basic life support training for every household in the city.
The ordinance authored by Councilor Leandro B. Yangot, Jr. stated that it is a declared policy of the State to protect and promote the right to health of the people and instill health consciousness among them and that it is likewise the declared policy of the local government to promote, expand and encourage its city disaster risk reduction and management plans, mobilize all households in every barangay to be cardiopulmonary resuscitation ready and share the information on the value, importance and benefits of providing emergency medical assistance.
The ordinance stipulated that the CDRRMO shall make grants to all the city’s 128 barangays for the purpose of establishing a basic life support and first aid psycho-motor training to be incorporated in all barangay risk reduction management plans.
The ordinance added that all the city’s 128 barangays are encouraged to accept competent basic life support and first aid psycho-motor training using nationally recognized, evidence-based guidelines from non-government organizations that are offering their services for free.
The CDRRMO, in coordination with the City Health Services office, the Liga ng mga Barangay and other government offices, will be authorized to adopt a system to implement and carry out the pertinent provisions of the measure.
The concerned offices were further tasked to promulgate the appropriate rules and regulations for the implementation of the measure.
It shall be obligatory for all barangays to keep an adequate number of copies of primers and leaflets on basic life support and first aid psycho-motor training for every household trainee in the barangay.
The ordinance provides the amount needed for the implementation of the measure shall be allotted in the annual budget of the local government and shall be disbursed pursuant to existing accounting and auditing rules and regulations.
Yangot claimed that based on a study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), cerebrovascular accidents or stroke are the second leading cause of death and the third leading cause of disability, and that cerebrovascular accident was the most common cause of death in the world in 2013, accounting for an estimated 17.3 million of 54 million total deaths or 31.5 percent of all global deaths.
By 2020, the WHO report stated that heart disease and stroke will become one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide, with the number of fatalities increasing to 20 million a year, and in 2040, to over 24 million a year.
Despite uncertainties, the ordinance noted that projections provide a useful perspective on health trends and health policies, provided that, they are interpreted with caution considering that projections enable people to appreciate better the implications for health and health policy of currently observed trends, and the likely impact of fairly certain future trends, such as tobacco smoking, diet and obesity.
The ordinance seeks to provide every household in the city’s 128 barangays to be taught basic life support and first aid psychomotor training with the aim of increasing survival rates and care for emergency response. By Dexter A. See
