Several elderly residents in the eastern municipality have died while exercising in public places because medical treatment did not reach them on time, local media have reported.

Most local residents and workers at Shanghai's parks do not know where to find or how to use the first aid facilities in parks, according to Shanghai-based news portal smg.cn.

According to local media, the latest incident occurred in Shanghai on Dec 6 when a man aged about 60 collapsed while jogging on a road near a park. No one there at the time knew where to find the park's first aid kit and the man died on the spot.

In November there were other similar cases reported by local media.

"I don't know where the emergency medical facility is," said Wang Yuanzheng, a 72-year-old resident who visits People's Park, one of the largest parks in Shanghai.

"Usually I take some medicine with me when I walk in the park in the morning because I have high blood pressure," she said.

A worker at People's Park, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that although every park is supposed to provide a first aid service, not many staff members knew where the medical equipment was or how to operate it.

"Some parks don't even have first aid facilities," he said.

One park in central Shanghai only has a dusty first aid box containing expired medicines, according to a report.

(China Daily December 10, 2010)