Heroes to the rescue

Two students from NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine) were among six people who assisted in reviving a man who had collapsed in an MRT train on 28 October. For their valiant efforts, the responders, as well as a representative from SMRT Corporation Ltd (SMRT), were presented with the Public Spiritedness Award by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) on 8 November.

Flanked by the ambulance crew, Colonel Alan Chow, Commander, 1st SCDF Division (centre), presented the awards to the recipients, who are (starting 2nd from left): NUH Staff Nurse Hazel Tan; Xue Dan; Senior Staff Nurse Nurhana; Dr Peng; Ms Nurzanariah Binte Zainudin, Assistant Station Manager, SMRT; Peter; and Kelvin

Peter Chen-Yang Nikhil Daniel and Kelvin Wui Zhong Liang, both Year 3 NUS Medicine students, were on their way to National University Hospital (NUH) when they saw Senior Staff Nurse Nurhana Binte Mohamad from NUH Emergency Medicine and Xue Dan, a nursing student from Nanyang Polytechnic, performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on Mr Michael (not his real name). The medical students also administered CPR, rotating with the earlier responders, and assisted in monitoring his vital signs. Mr Michael was subsequently moved to the platform at Buona Vista MRT Station where he was revived with an Automated External Defibrillator and placed in the recovery position while awaiting the arrival of the paramedics.

This was Peter’s first effort in helping to save a member of the public and he was happy to know that Mr Michael survived the episode. He said, “[The school] does a very good job of imparting the correct skills, so that when situations like these happen, it’s automatic. We don’t have to think too much and we just have to rely on the training that they have provided.”

For Kelvin, who will be notified via SCDF’s myResponder app whenever someone in his vicinity has collapsed, this is not his first time responding to medical emergencies. The incident has underscored the point that one does not need to be medically trained to do CPR. “As long as we are trained, we’re in the right place at the right time, we can always help. I hope that more people will go and learn CPR,” he said.

Peter and Kelvin said that the incident had inspired them to become better doctors

NUS alumna Dr Peng Kailing, Medical Officer from NUH Hand and Reconstructive Microsurgery, who happened to be at the scene, assisted the paramedics in monitoring and stabilising Mr Michael on the platform as well as en route to NUH.

Mr Michael has since been discharged from NUH. “To be trained with the necessary skills is not enough,” he said. “To be able to apply them when the situation calls for it, that takes courage. These six bystanders turned responders did exactly that and saved my life.”