FABRICE Muamba visited a Bolton Asda for a defibrillator training session after supermarket bosses agreed to install the life-saving devices in all its stores, offices and depots.

The former Bolton Wanderers star suffered a sudden cardiac arrest on the pitch in an FA Cup quarter final match against Tottenham two years ago, watched by millions of TV viewers.

Muamba said: “Installing defibrillators in all of its stores is such a tremendous initiative by Asda and so I am delighted to do anything I can to help raise awareness of the machines’ availability.”

Asda has joined forces with the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and is the first large retailer to put defibrillators in all of its shops — with Asda paying £500,000 towards the scheme.

The public access defibrillators can be used by any member of the public to deliver an electric shock to the heart when someone is having a cardiac arrest.

A person’s chance of surviving a cardiac arrest falls by 10 per cent for every minute without CPR and defibrillation, so immediate action is needed before an ambulance arrives.

Kate Main, from Asda, said: “We want people in the Bolton community to have the best chance of survival if cardiac arrest strikes.

“It can take a number of minutes for an ambulance to reach one of our stores in response to an emergency.

“Asda’s investment of over half a million pounds in providing life-saving defibrillators for all of the communities we operate in could significantly cut the amount of time a cardiac arrest sufferer has to wait for life-saving CPR and defibrillation, giving them the best possible chance of survival.”

More than 60,000 people suffer a cardiac arrest outside of hospital every year in the UK, but only one in ten people survive.

Asda will install the defibrillators in its 568 stores, 25 depots and offices by the end of 2014.

The BHF is also working with local ambulance trusts to run familiarisation training for 12,000 Asda workers on how to use the defibrillator.

Fabrice and his wife Shauna launched their ‘Mrs Muamba’s’ Caribbean sauce range with the supermarket earlier this year in five Asda shops across the North West. A donation from the sale of every jar of sauce will go towards the Arrhythmia Alliance.