myResponder: Singapore’s Way of Saving Lives

Muhammad Luqman Abdul Rahman, a 17-year-old college student in Singapore,?saved the life of a foreign worker who was in cardiac arrest. He did so by rushing to the victim and administering CPR before the arrival of an ambulance. It wasn’t the only occasion Muhammad has used his CPR and first-aid training to save lives, and he is not the only member of the public who does this in Singapore.?

In fact, more than 100,000 Singaporeans are on call to save the lives of fellow citizens suffering from an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) thanks to a mobile app called myResponder.

Over 2,500 people in Singapore experience an OHCA per year, according to data from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF). The?survival rate is just 5%, in part because the mean Emergency Medical Team (EMT) response time?in Singapore exceeds the internationally accepted eight-minute benchmark for life-threatening events. The traffic congestion in this small island state is partially accountable.

The SCDF decided that the OHCA survival rate could be improved by simple medical intervention within the first few critical minutes. It also ascertained that around 1,000 small fires could be extinguished by members of the public.

Hence the myResponder app, a mobile app that alerts pre-registered members of the public to fire and medical cases within 400m of their location, thereby saving lives and increasing the OHCA survival rate, as well as mitigating minor fires early.

The app was launched in 2016 with a focus on OHCA cases only. The ability to respond to minor fires was added later.??

?This video from the SCDF demonstrates how the app works and explains its key features:

What can we learn from the myResponder story?

In 2021, the MyResponder app sent out 2,180 alerts for suspected cardiac arrest cases and 1,253 individual responders attended to the victims. There were a further 1,638 alerts for minor fires with 1,419 individuals helping to put these out.?

The success of MyResponder can be a source of inspiration and learning. In the context of public sector innovation and digital transformation, I would like to highlight two key takeaways:

1. Citizen empowerment:

MyResponder is an excellent demonstration of how governments can leverage technology and empower ordinary citizens to co-deliver public services. This is an advanced level of public participation, especially when compared to basic participation, such as governments sharing information with the public or asking for feedback on draft public policies.?

The matrix below shows the spectrum of citizen participation, per the United Nations e-Government Survey 2020.?

According to the survey, “demand for e-participation seems highly variable across contexts, including countries, sectors, and nature of participation. As an example, available survey data for Europe indicate that, in spite of a rapid increase in the availability of online services between 2014 and 2019, the proportion of individuals engaging in e-consultation or e-voting has not changed at the scale of the region.”

My personal observations from my work with governments across countries support this conclusion. That’s why I consider myResponder an inspiring story, and a story that might help explain Singapore’s 6th position in the global UN e-Participation Index.

2. Is it an app? Maybe!

We can think of myResponder as a mobile app. However, I prefer to think of it as a business model — an adoption of the Uber business model.?

Why??

Because when we reframe our thinking this way, we can start examining the values and factors that are associated with Uber and are essential to the success of this model.

For example, this ‘Uber for EMTs’ business model requires the SCDF to realize that they are not delivering “service” anymore, at least not like in the old days. Instead, the first critical few minutes of an OHCA incident are carried out by regular citizens acting in an emergency services capacity of sorts. The government’s role here has shifted from being the sole service provider to being the platform operator and regulator. Remember, Uber doesn’t own cars!

Easier said than done, though. I’ve personally come across many “cool” initiatives that failed because governments struggled with giving up the “power and privilege” of the service delivery monopoly they have enjoyed for decades. They wanted to enjoy the “coolness” of new trendy technologies while maintaining the status quo.

I think we can agree that SCDF got it! And because they did, they were in position to have a holistic view and invest in securing other parts of the business model away from the technology itself, such as collaborating with other agencies, offering training programs to the public, and ensuring enough AEDs were spread across Singapore, as this map shows.

Source: Data.gov.sg

The 17-year-old Muhammad Luqman Abdul Rahman saved a life that day, and the 100,000 other registered responders do the same throughout the year. Something that’s possible not only because of their great voluntary spirit and personal skills, but also thanks to years of work and collaboration between the SCDF, the government and society.?

When you check out the myResonder app page under the Community & Volunteers section, you’ll also notice that there’s a?volunteer force called the the Civil Defence Auxiliary Unit (CDAU), and the People's Association Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), established in 2006 and 2004 respectively. Sustainable success takes genuine efforts, time and persistence.

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The myResponder story is part of a 2,500+ use cases documented within 01Gov platform. 01Gov is a Dubai-born startup aims at inspiring and enabling government innovation across the Global South.

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