Do not hurry to lift up a senior who falls over.The Ministry of Health issued guidelines on Tuesday for helping elderly people who fall over, saying that the action to be taken is different in differing circumstances.

?Members of emergency rescue teams under the Red Cross Society of China perform a first-aid drill in Beijing on Wednesday. [Photo/ China Daily]

If they remain conscious, one should first ask whether they have a severe headache or feel weak in their hands and feet. If so, raising them up could worsen their illness, which might be linked to cerebral ischemia or cerebral hemorrhage, the report said.

It has stirred controversy with people arguing that it is a lack of trust that prevents them helping, not a lack of medical knowledge.

The ministry said the new guidelines have nothing to do with morality and ethics. "We don't doubt the morality of the Chinese public to lend a hand to elderly people who have fallen down," Yan Jun, a division director of the ministry's disease prevention and control bureau said, "The guideline just explains how to deliver assistance in a scientifically proper way."

Xin Baoshan, director of the Chinese Red Cross National Training Center, which specializes in emergency training, said helping up an elderly person in an inappropriate way can cause further injuries.

On Friday, an 88-year-old man in Hubei province collapsed face-first on the ground and lay helplessly in a crowd for about 90 minutes until his son and wife arrived. They sent him to hospital but he died from suffocation caused by a nosebleed blocking his airway.

But there was derision online with posts saying the guide could only be effective if people were willing to lend a helping hand in the first place.

They said the government should focus on re-establishing social trust as the top priority after a series of cases across the country where people trying to help were instead wrongly accused of causing the accident. Some old people even tried to sue people who rushed to their aid.

On Aug 26, a bus driver helped an 81-year-old woman who had fallen over on an overpass in Rugao, Jiangsu province. The woman later called police and claimed the driver had run her over. Police checked the video on the bus and found the woman was not telling the truth.

Tan Fang, a professor at South China Normal University, set up a foundation in March to deal with the risks of helping the elderly in difficult situations. It provided both financial and legal aid to those who had gotten into trouble for helping the elderly.

Meanwhile, there were complaints that the guide was too complicated and professional for ordinary people.

"Maybe we have to carry the guide in our pockets every day so when we meet some old people lying on the ground, we can take it out and read carefully to act in right ways," said a Shanghai resident, Xu Boshi. "I hope the reading won't take too long before it becomes too late to save the old person."

(Shanghai Daily contributed to this story)