New Delhi: Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday shared a video on X showing a travelling ticket examiner (TTE) performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on an elderly passenger who allegedly suffered a heart attack. He claimed that the action saved the patient’s life, but after the video went viral, it attracted criticism, with several netizens, including doctors, questioning the minister, saying CPR cannot be performed on a conscious person.
In the video, a TTE can be seen performing CPR on an elderly man inside a train. The minister hailed the TTE as a “lifesaver” for performing chest compressions on the 70-year-old man, who is awake. The man shooting the video asks him about his well-being while the TTE performs CPR on him. As the man responds, the TTE continues thumping his chest and even performs mouth-to-mouth breathing on him.
“Our dedicated Indian Railways’ team,” Vainaw wrote on X while sharing the video, which video was shared by the Railways on its official X handle on Saturday.
“While travelling in the general coach of train number 15708, ‘Amrapali Express,’ a 70-year-old passenger suffered a heart attack. The TTE deployed there immediately gave CPR and saved the life of the passenger. The passenger was then sent to the hospital at Chhapra railway station,” reads the post.
Dear Railways (Reels) Minister, it is imperative that you delete this post of yours. It showcases your lack of medical science literacy, and the utter lack of basic health literacy of the Railways team currently working under you.
— TheLiverDoc (@theliverdr) November 25, 2024
At least ask your PR team to take advice from a… https://t.co/gNKsiQsULi
Soon after the minister shared the video, it triggered a debate with many social media users, especially doctors, slamming the officer for doing CPR on a conscious person. They also criticised Vaishnaw for lacking medical science literacy and accused it of spreading misinformation.
“Dear Railways (Reels) Minister, it is imperative that you delete this post of yours. It showcases your lack of medical science literacy and the utter lack of basic health literacy of the Railways team currently working under you,” wrote a leading hepatologist, Cyriac Abby Philips, on X through his @theliverdr handle.
“At least ask your PR team to take advice from a doctor or some medical health professional (non-Ayush) before you post something as idiotic as this,” it says.
Philips also wrote detailed guidelines for doing CPR as an “emergency procedure that helps restart breathing and a person's heartbeat when they have stopped.”
“Cardiopulmonary resuscitation should never be performed on a conscious patient as it is designed for individuals who are unconscious and not breathing. Again, in case you or your trained staff did not understand, ‘If a person is conscious and breathing, even if they are experiencing discomfort, do not initiate CPR.’”
An activist even claimed to have filed an RTI request regarding the incident requesting information on whether any probe had been initiated and how much training the TTE had.
