Over 250 senior high schools in Shanghai were outfitted with automated external defibrillators (AEDs) as of Wednesday and training on the operation of these machines will be provided to school staff beginning next week, education authorities announced yesterday.
The AEDs, portable electronic devices designed to restore normal heart rhythms during cardiac arrest, were given to the schools by the Shanghai Education Commission in an effort to improve campus emergency response capabilities.
The commission installed AEDs in 62 of the city's colleges in 2012 and now a second batch of such machines has been sent to local high schools.
Beginning on April 18, the commission will also start training thousands of health staff and gym teachers on the proper use of the defibrillators.
Over 500,000 people die from sudden cardiac arrest every year in China. Fewer than 1 percent of those who experience cardiac arrest in the country survive, compared with 5 percent in the United States.
Medical experts have attributed the high fatality rate to a lack of AEDs in public venues.
Currently, only certain local schools, airports and Metro stations are equipped with AEDs.
