A municipal project aimed at teaching first aid skills to more residents is now under way in Shanghai.

A recent survey found most residents lacked adequate first aid skills that could otherwise save more lives in emergency cases.

The Shanghai Red Cross Society has handed out 300,000 first aid brochures to residents.

According to the municipal red cross society, the project aims at teaching 10 percent of all adults in the city one or more essential first aid skills by 2010.

Accidents are the biggest killer in Shanghai next to cancer.

The death rate from accidents at home and on the road for people aged under 40 is 15.14 for every 100,000, nearly one-third of all deaths in this age group. It is also the number one killer of migrant workers in Shanghai.

"Our survey shows more than 96 percent of residents rely on professional medical treatment in emergency cases. In fact, if the first person on the scene could have provided immediate aid, more lives could have been saved," said Tian Yongbo, the society's director of information.

He said if first aid is provided to people within 4-6 minutes after he or she stops breathing, two out of every 10 lives could be saved.

Shanghai Red Cross Society staff will be visiting power stations, police stations and traffic institutes, to teach first aid.

People will be taught mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and cardiac massages. Videos and slides will be shown, and demonstrations given with dummies.

Communities will also organize courses to teach first aid skills to local residents.

Last year, more than 6,000 people received first aid training from the Red Cross Society, most of them from foreign-funded companies.

"First aid is given top priority in foreign countries," Tian said.

"However, in a public survey conducted in Pudong District last year, 88.4 percent of the 10,000 surveyed did not know about this crucial life-saver," he said.

Most people said they would "definitely take part" in the project if the training was given in their communities.

Last week, a 17-year-old waitress working at the Shenlong resort in suburban Shanghai's Fengxian District fell into a river. Five passers-by went to her aid, but three of them drowned.

In an online survey following this news story, more than 60 percent of the respondents said they "would not have helped, because they did not know how".

"It's too high a price, three lives for one. It's vital to help, but they have to learn how," the survey concluded.

(China Daily May 16, 2007)