New Delhi, India: Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, has announced the shipment of its two-millionth AED (Automated External Defibrillator). This achievement marks a major milestone in Philips’ continued efforts to combat sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), reaffirming the company’s commitment to providing empowered heart care across the health continuum. Cardiac arrests can happen anywhere, at any time, and bystander intervention and treatment with an AED has been shown to increase the survival rate by three times.
Commenting on the achievement, Rohit Sathe, President – Philips Healthcare, Indian Subcontinent said, “We are proud to reach the incredible milestone of the shipment of Philips two-millionth AED. The event is a testimony of Philips’ more than 20-year legacy of cardiac resuscitation innovations to combat the potentially fatal effects of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). As the leader in AEDs, Philips is committed to doing everything we can to help survive a sudden cardiac arrest, which is why we design our AEDs to be rugged, lightweight and durable, featuring clear audio instructions for both guided use and CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) guidance.”
Despite the widespread availability of AEDs today, people are not quite aware of AEDs, don’t know how easy they are to use and may still hesitate to intervene when someone is experiencing an SCA. Immediate defibrillation is the one and only way to save a person’s life in such cases. Philips aims to raise awareness around cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and cardiac events while showcasing the user-friendliness and importance of AEDs besides encouraging people to take personal responsibility for leading heart-healthy lives. According to a recent study of Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) conducted in 21 countries across five continents, CVD continues to be one of the leading causes of death across the world. In India, however CVD is still the top killer, with death three times more frequent than that due to cancer[1]. As a leader in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, Philips offers a comprehensive range of cardiology technology, workflow solutions and services that enable connected care across the health continuum. The company’s unique and strong portfolio of systems, smart devices, software and services in image-guided therapy, combine to offer healthcare providers with sophisticated, procedure-oriented solutions in cardiology.
Earlier this year, Philips and the American Heart Association announced a collaboration on Connected Pulse Program to increase sudden cardiac arrest survival rates in densely populated cities. The Connected Pulse program leverages a unique end-to-end solution combining education programs to increase awareness of CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation), the use of publicly available AEDs, and new technologies to strengthen the ‘chain of survival’ from the moment an incident occurs to the patient reaching the hospital. Philips is committed to utilize learnings from this programme to drive awareness around CVD in India.
