KUALA LUMPUR: Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin is on a mission to have an automated external defibrillator (AED) installed at all buildings.
He said having the medical device is important as half of the deaths caused by acute myocardial infarction happened outside of the hospital and patients die before reaching the hospital.
''Heart diseases are one of the top causes of fatality in the country.
''We need a whole-of-society approach to make this work,'' he said after opening the 11th National Acute Myocardial Infarction Course by the Serdang Hospital in Bangsar on Saturday (Oct 16).
AED is a medical device to analyse the heart rhythm and deliver an electric shock to victims of ventricular fibrillation to restore the heart rhythm to normal.
Ventricular fibrillation happens when a patient has an uncoordinated heart rhythm, which is the most common cause of a sudden heart attack.
Without mentioning the targeted timeline for the approach, Khairy said in many other countries, having an AED is common in buildings housing education institutions, government offices and corporate offices.
