Shanghai is upgrading its inadequate first-aid response and will add 100 ambulances and five first-aid stations by year's end, officials told the World Medicine Summit yesterday.

Currently, Shanghai has 240 ambulances and 58 first-aid stations. Most stations respond to emergencies within a 6-kilometer radius. The aim is to narrow the radius to 4 kilometers.

Neither the equipment nor the network can meet the needs, officials said.

"An ambulance can reach a patient in eight minutes in developed countries, while locals must wait 13 minutes downtown and 21 minutes in outlying areas," said Guo Yongqin, director of the Shanghai First Aid Center.

Some patients can't get an ambulance due to vehicle shortage, especially during peak times from 8 AM to noon and in very hot or cold weather.

Liu Zhongmin, president of Shanghai East Hospital and director of its emergency department, said the first one hour after an accident or emergency is the critical 'golden hour.'

About 80 percent of emergency patients can survive after early professional treatment, he said. Survival chances drop if the key hour is missed.

Local ambulances handled 283,000 calls last year, 114 percent over 2000. Demands are rising partly because of rising aging population.

Ambulances are expected to transport 400,000 to 450,000 patients in 2010, said Guo. The city is training workers in pre-hospital first aid and installing ambulance satellite navigation systems.

(Shanghai Daily June 19, 2006)