Doctors hoping Aquino will enact 'Samboy Lim bill' before bowing out of office 

Congress has approved the Cardiopulmonary Resusciation (CPR) Bill on third reading on May 23 (Monday) and the Philippine Heart Association (PHA) is hoping that it would soon be enacted into law by President Benigno Aquino III before he bows out of office.

The PHA is preparing for the next step, which would be deliberating the Implementing Rules and Regulations, before they start training teachers.

The CPR Law seeks to make lifesavers out of the youth by making CPR training part of the basic education curriculum. 

The law was called the Samboy Lim Law, as a reminder that cardiac arrest can happen even happen to physically fit people like athletes. 

Lim, a reknowned basketball legend, suffered a heart attack while playing in an exhibition game in 2014. He was rushed to a hospital unconscious and lay comatose for over a month.

According to the doctor who attended to Lim when he had a heart attack, had he been given CPR during the three-minute window period, the damage to his body would have been minimized.

The proposed law aims to increase in the number of people trained to administer CPR in communities.

"It would start in high school," Dr. Francia Lavapie, PHA Council on CPR chair, clarified, "Grade 5 to 6 to high school."

"Kapag naging law na talaga siya, by the time graduate na yung mga students, second nature na yung CPR sa kanila," Dr. Lavapie added. 

He explained that it would be "hands only" CPR, but they hope it would lead to "Bystander CPR", where laypeople are confident enough to provide assitance to people without worrying that they might make things worse and end up not helping. — APG, GMA News