AED Program — Empowering ambulances in Telangana to fight sudden cardiac death

The Osmania Gandhi Kakatiya and Telangana Medical Alumni Association of America (OGKTMA) launched a life-saving initiative in collaboration with the Government of Telangana to address the growing crisis of Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) in India. With SCD becoming a public health epidemic largely driven by ventricular arrhythmias, there was an urgent need to improve emergency response mechanisms.

OGKTMA stepped in to bridge this critical gap by equipping 170 ambulances across the state with Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs). AEDs are known to double the survival rate in out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, and prior to this initiative, nearly half of the ambulances under the state's 108 emergency response system lacked defibrillators.

The project was fully funded by April 2018 and officially deployed on August 25th, 2018, during a ceremony attended by Dr. K. Laxma Reddy, then Hon'ble Health Minister of Telangana.

This initiative marks a significant step in strengthening emergency medical care in Telangana and sets a precedent for public-private health collaborations.