Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    THE deaths of two runners at Xiamen International Half-Marathon in Fujian Province on Dec. 10 have stirred all sides of Shenzhen medical care into action.

    The city’s emergency center has trained more than 200 medical staff, while the city’s health commission has allocated 24 ambulances, coordinated nine hospitals and arranged 22 first-aid stations on the running course to prepare for Sunday’s Shenzhen International Marathon.

    Roughly 30,000 runners will participate in Shenzhen’s largest running event this year, 5,000 more than a year ago, which is putting more pressure on medical services, the health commission said.

    In Shenzhen’s previous three marathons, medical staff treated 4,179, 7,656 and 8,697 runners, respectively.

    The city’s emergency center gave the 200 medical workers a full day of training on how to treat marathon runners Tuesday.

    Eight of the nine hospitals chosen to service the running event, including Shenzhen People’s Hospital, the University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Hospital and Shekou People’s Hospital, have established medical teams for stations along the running course.

    Twenty-four first-aid transferring teams will each have an ambulance, and several first-aid technicians will be put on standby in case of emergency during the marathon. The number of ambulances involved in this year’s marathon will be five more than last year.

    Between the 22 first-aid stations on the running course, there will be 15 service stations set up by 200 volunteers and 20 cycling rescue teams carrying AEDs (automated external defibrillators), which are portable devices used to treat sudden cardiac arrest.

    In addition to the cycling rescue teams, all the ambulances and first-aid stations will be equipped with AEDs, which can check a person’s heart rate and send an electric shock to the heart to try to restore a normal rhythm.