HDT cabbies ready to deal with cardiac arrests
HDT Singapore Taxi has become the second cab company to be equipped with automated external defibrillators (AED).
Sponsorship from the Singapore Heart Foundation (SHF) has allowed the company to fit 50 of its electric-powered taxis with the AED, which can send an electric shock to the heart to revive it during a cardiac arrest.
The cabs are also equipped with fire extinguishers and first aid kits.
Cabbies driving these taxis have been trained in lifesaving skills such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation and AED procedures, basic first aid and firefighting.
The HDT Singapore Taxi - SHF AED-on-Wheels programme was launched yesterday. The programme itself started in November 2015 when 100 SMRT taxis were equipped with AEDs.
Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Home Affairs Amrin Amin said the move increases the pool of community first responders who would be "called upon to render assistance to others during emergencies".
The programme aims to buy time for those who suffer a heart attack, before Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officers show up.
Participating cabbies will be alerted by the SCDF myResponder app to a cardiac arrest incident within a 1.5km radius of their location. SMRT taxi drivers had arrived on scene to assist in 149 cardiac arrest cases as at September this year.
HDT has around 120 drivers, all of whom have completed over 80 hours of training such as the SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace programme and courses for handling children and passengers with special needs.
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