Doc suffers cardiac arrest during game, but is saved by colleagues

Two of them took turns to apply CPR while another located an AED device to use on him

- Christine Tan

An accident and emergency (A&E) doctor who saves lives at work found himself in need of saving when he collapsed from cardiac arrest during a tennis game.

Fortunately, Dr Christopher Wong, 56, a senior consultant at Woodlands Health, was playing with three A&E physician colleagues who dropped their rackets to save him.

They were Dr Sohil Pothiawala, 47, and Adjunct Associate Professor Amila Punyadasa, 52, both senior consultants at Woodlands Health, and Adjunct Associate Professor Kenneth Heng, 54, a senior consultant at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH).

The four doctors, friends for more than 20 years, have been playing tennis almost weekly since 2020.

The incident happened on May 19 at Prof Heng's condominium in Bukit Timah.

It was his day off, while the three doctors from Woodlands Health were scheduled for the evening and night shifts.

The game started at 7am.

After 45 minutes, Dr Wong, who is married with two daughters aged 26 and 24, felt light-headed but thought it was from the heat.

At 8.30am, however, he felt dizzy again and told his friends: "I can't go on."

They offered him an electrolyte drink. After downing it, he collapsed.

Dr Sohil said: "I didn't feel a pulse, and I couldn't believe it... (It's) so sudden, with a friend on the court."

Prof Amila and Dr Sohil immediately applied cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on Dr Wong, taking turns every two minutes.