The Ministry of Health, following its accreditation as an American Heart Association (AHA) International Training Centre (ITC), hopes to train over 2,000 people in various lifesaving courses annually.
The ministry in a statement said that its ITC targets annual training for at least 480 people in First Aid, CPR, and AED through the Heartsaver course, about 1,600 healthcare staff in Basic Life Support (BLS), and around 360 in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS).
Director for Asia Pacific and China Alina Zhuang. PHOTO: JAMES KON
According to the ministry, it received AHA accrediation early in February. On Monday, the ministry was inaugurated as an AHA ITC.
“This milestone enables the Ministry of Health, in partnership with AHA Regional Training Faculty, to launch its first Train-the-Trainers (ToT) Program, focusing on enhancing local resuscitation training capacity for healthcare professionals. The program includes essential courses, such as the Training Centre Faculty (TCF) Course and BLS & ACLS Provider and Instructor Essentials,” said the ministry.
Following Monday’s ceremony, 11 senior clinicians from various specialties will undergo TCF training to become the Ministry of Health ITC’s BLS and ACLS Faculty members.
This builds on their existing expertise by equipping them with advanced instructional methodologies tailored for AHA programs, enabling them to effectively conduct AHA BLS and ACLS Instructor Essentials courses and thereby expanding local instructor capacity, said the ministry.
Meanwhile, 17 healthcare professionals – mainly nurses and paramedics who currently serve as in-house instructors – will participate in BLS and ACLS Instructor Courses.
This aims to expand the team of AHA-certified Heartsaver, BLS, and ACLS instructors by training more professionals from the ministry’s healthcare staff, adding to the current 29 certified instructors.
The training will be held at the recently renovated National Resuscitation Centre, designed to support high-quality resuscitation education. Following the (ToT) programme, the Ministry of Health ITC will launch its first AHA-certified BLS and ACLS Provider Courses later this year, further certifying healthcare professionals as BLS and ACLS Providers, said the ministry.
Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohammad Isham bin Haji Jaafar was the guest of honour for Monday’s ceremony.
