BENGALURU: In a laudable gesture to provide emergency care to its commuters, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited has provided an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) at its bustling Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Metro station. The device helps in reviving someone from a cardiac arrest. BMRCL plans to install them in three more Metro stations shortly.
An S Shankar, Executive Director, Operations and Maintenance, BMRCL, said, “There are nearly 1 lakh footfalls on a daily basis at the Kempegowda station. So we decided to install it first here. The AED is placed in the Station Controller Room and staff have been trained to use them in case any commuter has an emergency,” he said. Each unit costs Rs 1.5 lakh and BMRCL was purchasing them, he added.
Metro was looking at providing such AEDs at MG Road, Yesvantpur and Jayanagar Metro stations. “The stations we plan to introduce them are a bit flexible,” Shankar said. Citizens for Citizens founder Rajkumar Dugar said the initiative was mooted by the organisation. “We really believe many lives can be saved if emergency support is provided instantly. We also gave training to the staff to operate the device.”