Rotary club donates four new defibrillators for Nicosia municipalities

Four public access defibrillators were delivered to the municipalities of Nicosia, Strovolos and Latsia-Yeri by the Rotary Club, as the HeartSafe Cyprus initiative was officially launched on Tuesday. Rotary Club president Michalis Kyprianou said the initiative rests on the principle that “every human life has the same value”. The head of the WHO office in Cyprus, Dr Irshad Shaikh, said the project was “about empowering people with the confidence, knowledge and skills to save lives”. The WHO says cardiovascular diseases kill about 10,000 people every day in its European region and account for 42.5 per cent of all deaths there. Polys Polykarpou, head of resuscitation services at the health ministry, said success would be judged by the number of people ready to act as well as the number of devices installed. The programme forms part of the EU Safe Hearts Plan, which provides for more than 20 new defibrillators a year in Cyprus over five years.