Doctor suffers cardiac arrest while playing tennis in Bukit Timah apartment, saved by colleagues playing with him

Christine Tan
The Street Times
October 12, 2024

An emergency room doctor who saves lives at work had to be rescued when he collapsed due to cardiac arrest during a tennis match.

Luckily, Dr Christopher Wong, 56, a senior consultant at Woodlands Health, was playing with three fellow A&E doctors who dropped their rackets to save him.

They were Dr Sohil Pothiawala, 47, and Adjunct Associate Professor Amila Punyadasa, 52, both senior consultants at Woodlands Health, and Adjunct Associate Professor Kenneth Heng, 54, senior consultant at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH).

The four doctors, friends for over twenty years, have been playing tennis almost weekly since 2020.

The incident happened on May 19 at Prof Heng’s condominium in Bukit Timah.

It was his day off, while the three doctors at Woodlands Health were scheduled to work the evening and night shifts.

The match started at 7am.

After 45 minutes, Dr Wong, who is married and has two daughters aged 26 and 24, felt light-headed but thought it was due to the heat.

However, at 8:30 a.m. he felt dizzy again and told his friends, “I can’t go any further.”

They offered him an electrolyte drink. After taking it down, he collapsed.

Dr. Sohil said: “I didn’t feel a heartbeat, and I couldn’t believe it… (It’s) so sudden, with a friend on the field.”

Prof. Amila and Dr. Sohil immediately administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to Dr. Wong, taking turns every two minutes.

Prof. Amila mentioned Dr. Wong his mentor and said: “I knew this man and he was very kind to me… I thought, oh no, it can’t be like this.”

Meanwhile, Prof. Heng called an ambulance and ran around looking for an automated external defibrillator (AED).

But he couldn’t find one in his condominium and sprinted to the nearby apartment to borrow an AED.

By the time Prof. Heng returned, Dr. Wong had been unresponsive for about 15 minutes.

Prof Amila said: “He was pale as a sheet. At that moment I thought this wouldn’t have a happy ending.”

But the three friends were not willing to give up and continued to try to save him.

After using the AED, paramedics from the Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF) arrived and continued to administer shocks to Dr Wong.

A few minutes later he regained consciousness and thought he had fainted.

Dr. Wong said: “I was in a dream state where I asked myself if I had taken a nap. I suddenly noticed people pressing my chest and saying, “Are you okay, buddy?”

He was rushed to TTSH when Prof Heng called his colleagues to prepare for his arrival.

Dr. Wong had an angioplasty – a procedure to stretch a blocked artery so blood can flow – and was discharged after two days.

Dr. Christopher Wong, Dr Sohil Pothiawala, Professor Kenneth Heng and Associate Professor Amila Punyadasa. Photo: The Straits Times

Prof. Amila, Dr Sohil and Prof Heng each received an SCDF Community Lifesaver Award for their heroic efforts in July.

They hope more members of the public can take action when others need them. Prof Heng said: “The same results could have been achieved. (It’s) not just because we’re doctors.

According to the Singapore Heart Foundation website, more than 3,000 people suffer sudden cardiac arrest every year. If a bystander performs CPR and uses an AED, a victim’s chance of survival can increase by as much as 50 percent.

A spokesperson for the SCDF told The Straits Times that there were about 11,300 publicly accessible AEDs registered in Singapore as of September.

They can be found in the lift lobby of every two HDB blocks islandwide, as well as in public places such as train stations and bus interchanges, the spokesperson said.

There are currently 152 apartments included in the register. Installing an AED is not mandatory for private properties.

Following the incident, Prof. Heng connected his condominium management to SCDF, who installed a publicly accessible AED on the premises. The doctor also gathered about 40 residents to learn CPR together.

The SCDF spokesperson encouraged members of the public to sign up as community first responders via the SCDF myResponder app, which alerts them to small fires nearby or suspected cases of cardiac arrest.

They can also use the app to find the nearest publicly available AEDs.

The spokesperson also encouraged management of private residential buildings to install and maintain their own AEDs for the safety of their residents.

He added: “Private building managers are also welcome to register their AEDs on the National AED Register and make them publicly available for use during cardiac arrest emergencies.”

If the strata title management company is unable to install and maintain its own AED, it may request SCDF to install one in a publicly accessible area on its premises. It can contact SCDF at [email protected]

Dr. Wong said: “Life is so fragile. I could have easily been jogging alone (when it happened). So I was in the right place at the right time.”

Apart from a few broken ribs from the resuscitation, Dr Wong was otherwise fine.

Professor Heng said that Dr. Wong had to forgive them for breaking his ribs.

Dr. Wong said: “Ribs can heal. I would rather have this pain than be painless forever.”