A new legislation seeks to protect people who will give first aid to anyone during an emergency situation.
The Shanghai Municipality People's Congress (SMPC) received the presented draft law on Nov. 16, reported Shanghai Daily.
Shen Xiaochu, director of the Shanghai Health and Family Planning Commission, said that people who underwent first aid training “should be encouraged” to administer such when circumstances call for it.
Shen said that these people give immediate help as medical professionals make their way to the scene of the incident. Apparently, first aid can save someone’s life.
If the first aid given by someone has brought harm rather than the intended medical assistance, the proposed legislation offers the victim some form of compensation.
Proposals by lawmakers led to the installment of 310 automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in train stations in Shanghai and other public places in 2013, including Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Oriental Land, a 373-hectare multi-theme park in Qingpu District, according to Shanghai Daily.
Aside from the combined mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), someone can use an AED to a person experiencing a sudden cardiac arrest.
An AED is a portable electronic medical device that, according to the American Red Cross, “is the only effective treatment for restoring a regular heart rhythm during sudden cardiac arrest and is an easy to operate tool for someone with no medical background.”
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, an international humanitarian movement located in Geneva, Switzerland, introduced the World First Aid Day in 2000.
The World First Aid Day is now an annual global celebration campaigning “to promote the importance of first aid training in preventing injuries and saving lives,” according to the Canadian Red Cross.
The event takes place every second Saturday in September. This year, it happened on Sept. 12. The next one will be on Sept. 10, 2016.