On March 5, Yang Minjie, deputy chief physician of the medical affairs department at Huashan Hospital, conducts emergency first aid training for metro staff. [Photo/Huashan Hospital]

Shanghai's medical institutions are partnering with the city's metro system to enhance the latter's ability to respond to emergencies before patients reach the hospital.

As a part of the cooperation, doctors from Huashan Hospital, a renowned medical institution affiliated with Fudan University, trained the metro staff at Changshou Road Station on handling sudden unconsciousness and using breathing airbags on March 5.

This collaboration is a continued effort between Huashan Hospital and the Shanghai Metro. The two have been working together to improve emergency response services, such as exit guidance, first-aid training, and the establishment of emergency green channels, since 2023.

The hospital also provided public emergency knowledge courses for metro staff, aiming to improve their emergency response capabilities with the necessary knowledge and skills such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), automated external defibrillator (AED), and basic life support measures.

Such efforts have paid off. Two months ago, a passenger who fainted at the Changshou Road Station was quickly transported to Huashan Hospital for diagnosis and treatment within 16 minutes thanks to the quick response by station personnel, according to Yang Minjie, deputy chief physician of the medical affairs department at Huashan Hospital, who led the emergency first aid training for metro staff on March 5.

During the event, 35 breathing airbags were donated to the metro station.

Gu Huahua, deputy director of the anesthesiology department of Huashan Hospital, said that breathing airbags can be used as an alternative to manual ventilation, making emergency response more accessible to a wider group of people.

Along with Huashan Hospital, Longhua Hospital and the Shanghai Volunteer Service Public Welfare Foundation also joined in the first-aid training program at Changshou Road Station.

Huashan Hospital said it plans to join hands with other medical institutions to develop regular and tailor-made first-aid training for the metro staff.