MORE than 800 motorcycle police officers in Shenzhen will complete a two-month emergency medical training at the Shenzhen Medical Emergency Aid Center.

The new skills will enable on-duty police officers to offer basic medical services at the scenes of accidents or emergencies.

Shenzhen has reportedly taken the lead in China by requiring motorcycle police officers to receive first-aid training.

At the first training session Friday, Zhu Hong, deputy chief of the Shenzhen Medical Emergency Aid Center, said the training includes cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, use of an AED device, binding to stop bleeding, injury judgment and some basic emergency medical treatment theory.

It will become a routine training program for motorcycle police officers that will enhance the capability of police officers in handling medical emergencies.

A pedestrian suffering from epilepsy benefited from a small-scale training program in April. On April 23, a police officer with a Luohu traffic police unit named Ai Lijun, found a man lying on the street in front of a square on Shennan Road East. Ai helped the man by following the training procedures for more than 10 minutes until an ambulance arrived.

“Police officers on motorcycles generally arrive at a scene earlier than ambulances. If they can help injured people in a proper and timely manner, they will help save time for medical employees,” said Xia Xukun, deputy chief with Shenzhen’s traffic police command department.

Residents in the United States and many European countries generally have more first-aid knowledge, with the penetration rate in the U.K. being 50 percent and the rate in the U.S. 35 percent, according to a Shenzhen Special Zone Daily report. The figures are even higher among police officers in those countries, the report said.

(Han Ximin)