In the 1980’s and 1990s Penang Adventist Hospital (PAH) took the lead to improve the care of patients by introducing several educational programmes for the doctors inside and outside the hospital. PAH invited the Loma Linda CPR Team twice during that period to conduct CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) courses in Penang Adventist Hospital and many doctors in Penang attended the training course at that time. Dr. Ng Tat Low and Mrs. Paula Sehu were the early champions involved in organising CPR training for the hospital doctors and staff.

In the 90’s, the CPR Society of Penang offered to train our first Basic Life Support Instructors. Among the first instructors were Dr. Andy Teh, Ms Ong Ming Yen and Mr. Yanaseikaran AL Vadivallu. These three instructors worked very hard to start the BLS provider training and over the years, they have trained almost all the nursing staff.

Due to JCI Accreditation standards and the increasing demand for well-structured training based on the latest research, Penang Adventist Hospital contacted the Loma Linda University from the USA for assistance. In 2007, trainers from Loma Linda University made their first trip to the PAH. During their visit, they trained many doctors and nurses for the Provider courses on Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advance Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS); and also trained five BLS Instructors. Subsequently, there were more paramedics, nurses, respiratory therapists and doctors trained not only in BLS, but also in ACLS and Paediatric Advance Cardiovascular Life Support (PALS).

In 2008 we were authorised by the American Heart Association (AHA) as its International Training Centre (ITC) to offer CPR and Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC) courses in Malaysia. The training has been extended to not only the medical personnel of Penang Adventist Hospital but also to other private hospitals, companies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the community of Penang.