From Participant No 6723, via-email
I am appalled by the lie told by the organisers of the Standard Chartered KL Marathon with regard to the events leading up to the death of a runner. It was done in bad taste.
Here is my account of the tragic incident as I stopped to help the runner, together with a doctor and a trainee doctor. There were many eye-witnesses too.
When I was running my final two of the 10km run along the road in front of Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, I saw a guy was sitting on the roadside...in no time he collapsed to the ground.
This scene attracted my attention and there was a man (a trainee doctor, named Irkhan) who was trying to help him and shouting for medical services.
I ran over to see what was happening (it was around one hour into the race for 10km runners). I got know that the guy (named Lim) was having a seizure. We placed him in a recovery position. He was breathing heavily, and rapidly.
He was also biting into his teeth hard. I was afraid that he might hurt himself (by either biting his own tongue or blocking his airway), so I tried to open up his jaws and tried to calm him down by talking with him.
It seemed to help as he relaxed a little, breathed easily and began taking deeper breaths. A lady (Pei Kheng) came over to help and monitored his pulse and Dr X (another participant in the run) also stopped by to help.
Then suddenly, his pulse was gone. We quickly laid him flat on his back and started CPR procedures. We did chest compressions and also mouth-to-mouth resustication on him.
As we were administering the CPR procedures, we were desperately on the look out for medical emergency help but no one was around. We shouted as loud as possible to draw the attention to our predicament.
After awhile into the CPR procedures, 'Lady A' said that she could feel his pulse but it was very weak. We stopped the CPR procedures to see if he had regained consciousness.
After I stopped the chest compressions on Lim, I started shouting again in the hope that there would medic services nearby but there was none. Three DBKL officers (with big motorcycles) who just stood by the road side and stared at us.
They did not come over to help or to check what was happening (10 minutes has elapsed since Lim collapsed and began having the seizures). After a moment, Lim lost his pulse again and we started CPR procedures once more.
There was still not an ambulance or any EMS (Emergency Medical Services) in sight. After approximately 30 compressions, Lim regained his pulse but was very very weak. The DBKL officers still did not move to help… so I asked a passer by to tell them to call for an EMS.
After we performed CPR procedures on Lim for a third time, an ambulance finally arrived. This was about 15 - 20 minutes after Lim had collapsed. We then let the EMS officers to take over and administer first aid.
Dr X asked the ambulance personnel if they had an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) to which they replied in the negative. I then asked if they has a face mask with a pump. They practically had nothing in the ambulance! The EMS then sped Lim to the HKL.
We were later informed that the response time for EMS is three minutes but it took them almost 20 minutes to arrive. Page 15 of the Runners Guide provided in our running kit states that 'medical assistance and medical aid is available every 4km and at the finish area.
Every 4KM MY ROYAL ASS. I did not see any first aider, ambulance or any sort of medical officials along my 10km route. If was indeed 4km, it woud not take them SO LONG to arrive.
A little later I received a call from Dr X. He went to HKL to check out the condition of Lim and he informed me that Lim passed away on arrival at the hospital. He was only in his 20's and was running the 10km distance.
This letter is to highlight the inefficiency of EMS, DBKL officers and the organiser of Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2010 which took a young man in the prime of his life.
If you are looking for proof as to the timing of the events, the link below in photographic proof that the ambulance did not reach the scene until 20minutes later.
Of course, the organiser might say the person's time setting on the camera may not be accurate, and in this case, they may also claim the same with regards to the clock at the Sultan Abdul Samad Building.
Photos
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