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The portable defibrillator

How Northern Irish doctor Frank Pantridge revolutionised heart-attack treatment in the 1960s.

In the 1960s, doctors in Northern Ireland launched the world’s first mobile coronary emergency service using a new invention – the portable defibrillator. The defibrillators – which initially worked off ambulance car batteries - saved dozens of heart attack victims every year. Modern versions are now commonly seen and used in places like offices and shopping malls. The man behind the portable defibrillator was Belfast hospital doctor Frank Pantridge. Simon Watts tells his story using the BBC Northern Ireland archives.

PHOTO: A defibrillator in use (Science Photo Library)

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9 minutes

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Sat 6 Jun 202002:50GMT
BBC World Service except Australasia

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