China needs more trained first-aiders to meet the demands of big events such as the Beijing Olympics, as well as emergencies.

 

A senior official said on Friday that people's awareness of the importance of life-saving was quite weak, while their knowledge of first aid was poor.

 

Peng Peiyun, president of the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC), gave the example of Beijing one of the nation's best cities for first aid training where only 1 in 150 people know first aid.

 

In some developed countries, the proportion is 1 to 8, Peng noted at a conference on first aid in China.

 

Constant effort is needed in the coming two years to reach targets set for the Olympics.

 

The goal is for all host cities to have at least one qualified first-aider in every 80 to 150 residents, said Jiang Yiman, deputy president of the RCSC.

 

In 2003 the government promised that by 2008, China will have 1 trained first-aider for every 100 citizens.

 

The exact number of how many people will be trained in primary first aid is not yet available. But over the past four years, Red Cross societies at various levels have trained several million workers from high-risk industries.

 

During this period, a total of 4.77 million public security officers, construction workers, coal miners and transport workers have received primary training in life-saving practices.

 

The primary training includes basic life-saving techniques, such as the emergency removal of a casualty, or how to care for a person suffering from severe external bleeding, skin burns or a fracture.

 

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies estimate that tens of millions of lives are saved because of timely first aid each year.

 

(China Daily September 9, 2006)