SINGAPORE - HDT Singapore Taxi has become the second cab company to be equipped with automated external defibrillators (AED) that can be used in emergencies like cardiac arrests.
Sponsorship from the Singapore Heart Foundation (SHF) has allowed the firm to fit 50 of its electric-powered taxis with the portable device, which can send an electric shock to the heart to revive it during a cardiac arrest.
The cabs are also equipped with fire extinguishers and first aid kits.
Cabbies driving these taxis have been trained in life-saving skills such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and AED procedures, basic first aid and firefighting.
The HDT Singapore Taxi - Singapore Heart Foundation AED-on-Wheels programme was launched on Monday (Nov 18) at Kampung Admiralty.
The programme itself started in November 2015, when 100 SMRT taxis were equipped with AEDs.
Mr Amrin Amin, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Home Affairs, said the move increases the pool of community first responders who would be "called upon to render assistance to others during emergencies".
He cited the SMRT take-up of the initiative, adding: "In the event of a cardiac arrest emergency, these SMRT taxi drivers can help to deliver the AED to the scene quickly, administer the AED or perform CPR. This improves the chances of survival for the victim."
The programme aims to buy time for those who suffer a heart attack, before Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officers show up.
Participating cabbies will be alerted by the SCDF myResponder app to a cardiac arrest incident within a 1.5km radius of their taxi location.
SMRT taxi drivers had arrived on scene to assist in 149 cardiac arrest cases as at September this year.
HDT's senior manager of operations, Mr Leslie Ng, said if a taxi has a passenger on board when an alert comes in, the driver will state that he is diverting to the incident.
Singapore Heart Foundation chairman Tan Huay Cheem said at the launch that there are around 1,800 cardiac arrest cases a year with 60 per cent involving mainly the elderly at home but that number may increase over time.
He said: "Heart attack is the main cause of cardiac arrest and an aging population naturally brings about a higher number of such incidents. So by making the AED available and accessible in all channels, we hope that every life can be saved."
HDT was set up here in 2016, and is Singapore's seventh taxi operator. It has around 120 drivers, all of whom have completed over 80 hours of training such as the SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace programme and courses for handling children and passengers with special needs.
Singapore's largest taxi operator is ComfortDelGro, which operates about 11,500 Comfort and CityCab taxis.
ComfortDelGro chief spokesman Tammy Tan told The Straits Times that the firm is "exploring the idea" of equipping its vehicles with AEDs.
