Save a life

In Karachi, the number of drowning tragedies is increasing at an alarming rate. Many victims who are taken out of water lose their lives because of the improper first aid provided to them. The truth if that most people don’t know how to perform CPR (Cardio-pulmonary Resuscitation) on victims. This skill should be taught in schools and the life-guards should also be trained in it. It may be mentioned that drowning is often a silent phenomenon. Someone who is drowning may be unable to get his/her head above the water long enough to even call for help. A person may even drown without the people next to them knowing that anything is wrong. It happened with the son of one of my friends. He was pushed into the swimming pool by a boy in a playful manner.

At that time, he hadn’t learnt swimming. I was seeing it happening. I raised an alarm. The life guard took him out and performed CPR on him, which proved to be quite helpful. Had I not seen him being pushed, he would have been drowned. In order to avoid the risk of drowning in the sea, appropriate barriers and fencing should be installed by the city government at all picnic spots so that people can be deterred from crossing the danger line. Nothing is more valuable than life.

Air-Cdre (r) Azfar A Khan

Karachi