An elderly man lost consciousness in a coffee shop in Bukit Batok on Sunday morning (Mar. 28) and was aided by a Member of Parliament of the area who happened to be around having breakfast when the incident occurred.

The elderly man regained consciousness and was subsequently sent to the hospital by the Singapore Civil Defence Force personnel.

Bukit Batok SMC MP Murali Pillai, who witnessed the incident and helped the elderly man, recounted in a Facebook post what happened.

Elderly man collapsed suddenly

According to Murali, the incident occurred at a coffeeshop located at Block 155 Bukit Batok Street 11, when he was having breakfast with members of his PAP branch during their Sunday morning walkabout.

A coffee shop attendant suddenly informed Murali that an elderly man had lost consciousness, fallen to the ground and shattered the cup he was holding.

The MP, along with his branch teammate, Jason, then rushed to the elderly man's aid.

The pair tried to wake the elderly man up, and he managed to regain consciousness on his own.

Murali then called 995, and followed the advice dispensed by the SCDF officer to turn the elderly man to one side to prevent him from choking.

Murali was instructed to talk to the elderly man to ensure that he remained conscious.

A general practitioner in Bukit Batok then arrived at the scene with a defibrillator.

SCDF personnel arrived within 10 minutes, and conveyed the elderly man to the hospital.

Important to keep CPR skills up to date

In his post, Murali reminded residents the importance of learning cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), as he wrote that he realised his life-saving skills "have not been validated for a while", and that he was "lucky" that the old man became conscious on his own.

He claimed that if the man did not regain consciousness naturally, he would have to apply CPR, which was a situation that he was not as prepared for.

Murali added that the Bukit Batok Community Emergency and Engagement (C2E) Committees run first aid and CPR courses for Bukit Batok residents, and urged residents to sign up for them, so that they will be ready to help in similar situations.

He also said that he intends to sign up personally to revalidate his CPR skills at the earliest opportunity.

You can see his full Facebook post here:

Top image via Murali Pillai/FB and Singapore Heart Foundation.