Pakistan's Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system & out-of-hospital-cardiac-arrest (OHCA): A narrative review of an EMS system of a low middle income country in context of OHCA

Mirza Noor Ali Baig; Nadeemullah Khan; Rizwan Naseer; Shahnaz Akhter; Abid Jalaluddin Shaikh; Junaid Abdul Razzak

doi:10.1016/j.resplu.2024.100627

Pakistan's Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system & out-of-hospital-cardiac-arrest (OHCA): A narrative review of an EMS system of a low middle income country in context of OHCA

Resusc Plus. 2024 Apr 4:18:100627. doi: 10.1016/j.resplu.2024.100627. eCollection 2024 Jun.

Authors

Mirza Noor Ali Baig^{1

2}, Nadeemullah Khan¹, Rizwan Naseer³, Shahnaz Akhter³, Abid Jalaluddin Shaikh⁴, Junaid Abdul Razzak²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Emergency Medicine, The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
² Centre of Excellence for Trauma & Emergencies, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.
³ Emergency Services Department, Punjab, Pakistan.
⁴ Sindh Emergency Service Rescue 1122, Rehabilitation Department, Government of Sindh, Pakistan.

Abstract

Pakistan's Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are a critical component of its healthcare system, providing pre-hospital emergency care across a nation with over 220 million people. This article explores the evolutionary journey of Pakistan's EMS, highlighting both the challenges it faces and the strides it has made, with a specific emphasis on patients experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). To extract relevant information, we searched MEDLINE & Embase data bases using MeSH terms "Emergency Medical Services" OR "EMS" AND "Out-of-Hospital-Cardiac-Arrest" OR "OHCA" AND "Pakistan". In addition, we also retrieved information from the EMS leadership in Pakistan through e-mails. We delve into the significance of key performance indicators for OHCA, advocate for the establishment of OHCA registries to improve patient outcomes, address regional disparities in pre-hospital care, and acknowledge the gradual progress of the EMS system.

Keywords: Emergency Medical Services (EMS); Out-of-hospital-cardiac-arrest (OHCA).

Publication types

Review