Air Malta has installed Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) on all its aircraft and on company premises.

The AED is a fully computerised machine that is used to deliver an electric shock to the heart of a casualty who is suffering from ventricular fibrillation which is the most common cause of cardiac arrest. Prompt intervention with an AED can dramatically increase the chances of survival.

The Air Malta safety office, in conjunction with the human resources and flight services departments selected this defibrillator for its simplicity of use and demonstrated reliability. It has voice prompts to guide the user through the actions required to ensure safe defibrillation.

Air Malta has also given additional training to all its cabin crew and some 45 ground staff in the use of the AEDs and first aid principles in cardio pulmonary resuscitation. This compliments the CPR training cabin crew are given as a regular feature in their first aid training.

Sudden cardiac arrest is the most common cause of death from heart disease accounting for more than 60 per cent of all cardiac deaths. This condition occurs in about one in a thousand people aged 35 years and older. This silent killer can strike anyone, anywhere without warning or any previous symptoms.

Incidentally, sometime after the commissioning of the AEDs, a life was possibly saved on a flight coming from the UK when a passenger felt sick and the AED was requested by a doctor onboard the flight who attended to the passenger.

The flight eventually had to make an emergency landing in Paris, however the use of the AED and other medical kit that Air Malta now has as standard onboard equipment may have helped to stabilise the patient’s condition prior the arrival of paramedics.

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