Bassetlaw-based Muslim charity provides life-saving defibrillators to two villages

Muslim Charity, which is based in Retford, presented the two defibrilators which have been installed at Ranby House School, in Ranby and the village hall in Sutton-cum-Lound at a joint handover ceremony on Friday.

The charity decided to fund the defibrillators after seeing a social media post by Bassetlaw MP Brendan Clarke-Smith, which highlighted the need for them in the local community.

This led to Muslim Charity organising a meeting with the MP to discuss the issue.

Dstrict councillors Denise Depledge and Julia Bowness championed the cause by highlighting the huge role that defibrillators play in saving lives at times of urgent and immediate need, and within just a few months Muslim Charity has funded two defibrillators.

Vice chairman of Muslim Charity, Bakhtyar Pirzada, said: “We are honoured to have been able to be part of this project and together with our donors to have contributed to the well-being and safety of members of our local community.

"We would like to thank Brendan Clarke-Smith for making effective use of social media and highlighting the needs and issues of the local constituency, as a result of which two defibrillators are being handed over.

"We are hopeful that the handover will again highlight the life-saving significance of defibrillators and inspire further support for local initiatives.”

The UK director of Muslim Charity, Maroof Pirzada said he was not aware of the huge life-saving potential that defibrillators can have at times of sudden cardiac arrest until the figures were highlighted in a meeting with counc Depledge and coun Bowness.

Each year in Britain around 30,000 people are struck by sudden cardiac arrest outside of hospital environments and every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces a victim’s chance of survival decreases by 10 per cent. Without immediate treatment, such as using a defibrillator, 90 to 95 per cent of cardiac arrests prove fatal.

Mr Pirzada added: “It really brought home the idea that we should not delay this project for a single moment.

“We feel humbled and honoured to serve the local community through life-saving defibrillators, we hope they are never required to be used but if the need arises, we are satisfied that the communities of Ranby and Sutton-cum-Lound have the facility there and available.”

Mr Clarke-Smith said it was great to see the “first-hand community effort” towards providing defibrillators.

“I would like to thank Maroof, and the Muslim Charity for their generosity to residents in Bassetlaw by providing these two defibrillators to the community,” he added.

"Bearing in mind that we have over 14,000 people living with heart and circulatory diseases in Bassetlaw, these kind donations will benefit us for years to come.”

Muslim Charity is an international organisation working to eradicate poverty in the developing world through supporting health, water and sanitation, education and emergency response initiatives in 17 countries around the world.

With its headquarters in Retford, there has always therefore been an interest to support local causes as well.

This has led to Muslim Charity historically supporting Bassetlaw Hospital with the procurement of a brand new resuscitaire unit for its maternity ward and also funding the Bassetlaw Food Bank.