Local residents will be able to take part in a first aid training course at Ruijin Hospital next month to qualify for an internationally recognized Basic Life Support certificate.

Experts told a Yangtze River Delta Forum on Emergency and Critical Care Medicine in the city at the weekend that each class would be taught by four doctors from Ruijin's emergency department. The tuition would be 500 yuan (US$73) for each person.

To promote first aid among the public, Ruijin Hospital would also team up with key hospitals in the delta region to train medical professionals in the American Heart Association's advanced cardiac life support course.

"The whole emergency system consists of pre-hospital medical care, in-hospital emergency services and the intensive care unit," said Dr Lu Yiming, the forum president and director of Ruijin Hospital's emergency department.

"We should enhance the awareness and emergency care ability of both the public and medical staff, many of whom don't grasp proper cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR," Lu said.

(Shanghai Daily September 16, 2008)