Heart attack life-saver sells out
Updated on 02 May 2007
Hundreds of Belfast-made "idiot proof" heart defibrillators put on sale on the website of a top German discount retailer have sold out within days.
It was the first time anywhere in the world that a defibrillator was put on sale direct to the public.
Heartsine Technologies was shipping 100 more of its Samaritan Public Access Defibrillators [PAD] out to Germany after 300 were snapped up by heath conscious Germans since the machines went on sale last Thursday.
Demand for the simple to use cardiac life saver has been growing with thousands sold by Heartsine since the beginning of the year.
But Jeremy Bowden, international sales manager at the company, said: "We had already stepped up production but this is a whole new ball game and we will have to increase it again.
"It is the first time in the world that a defibrillator has been sold direct to the public. Normally we sell to organisations such as the Red Cross, hotel chains and companies."
But now top German discount retailer PLUS - part of Germany's Tengelmann OBI and Kaisers A&P retail chain, which has over 10,000 outlets in 15 countries, is selling the defibrillator through its website -www.plus.de - and network of German stores.
The deal was done by Volker Brand, Heartsine's vice president Europe, who said: "Heart attacks are the greatest cause of sudden death worldwide, a problem Northern Ireland, Germany and other European countries share.
"PLUS has identified an opportunity to enable people to do something positive themselves and has come up with an initiative which makes this life-saving device readily available outside hospitals or clinics."
Research shows that the lives of people who suffer a sudden cardiac arrest can be saved if they receive CPR and defibrillation within the first 10 minutes, he said.
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