The Ministry of Health handed out a first aid blanket to drivers

The Ministry of Health proposes to adjust the contents of the car first aid kit – it will be supplemented with a rescue isothermal blanket and surgical scissors. This, according to officials, will “most adequately meet the task of providing first aid” to victims of road accidents. First aid kits are no longer a mandatory component of a car, bus, truck or motorcycle, although, as experts with whom Kommersant spoke, assure, they can save many lives before the ambulance arrives.

The Russian Ministry of Health has prepared a draft order regulating the configuration of a car first aid kit for providing first aid in an accident. The kit is proposed to include a rescue isothermal blanket measuring at least 160 x 210 cm, surgical scissors, a mouthpiece/cardiopulmonary resuscitation cover, and elastic bandages. Such a composition, according to officials, will “most adequately meet the task of providing first aid” and will increase its effectiveness.

Injuries received as a result of road accidents are among the most severe types of injuries and rank first among the causes of death from mechanical injuries, the Ministry of Health recalls. Often it is the early provision of first aid (even before the ambulance arrives), they say, that allows you to save the life of the victim and reduce the time of treatment.

It should be noted that the number of road accidents at the end of 2023 in the Russian Federation increased by 4.5% compared to 2022, as follows from the data posted on the portal stat.gibdd.ru. In total, 132.4 thousand road accidents occurred, in which 14.5 thousand people died (+2.3%), 166.5 thousand were injured (+4.3%). In 2023, Rosstat reported that so-called external causes became the third most common cause of death in Russia in 2022 (7.7%). These include traffic accidents, alcohol poisoning, suicide and murder. Moreover, the figure showed an increase of 5% compared to last year – 146,040 people.

The last time the first aid kit was updated was in November 2020. Then small bandages (5 m x 5 cm and 5 m x 7 cm) were taken from there. There is no point in them, according to the Ministry of Health, since they are rarely used in first aid. We also excluded bactericidal adhesive plasters, which are used for minor abrasions, scratches and calluses. But they added two non-sterile masks “made of non-woven material with elastic bands or ties” (needed to protect the respiratory system from respiratory infections). To exclude infection through “biological fluids,” a second pair of gloves has also been added: “When providing assistance, gloves may tear and need to be replaced.”

Let us remind you that before March 1, 2023, any car, bus, truck or motorcycle was required to be equipped with a first aid kit (the fine was 500 rubles), which was monitored by traffic police inspectors. However, on the initiative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the norm was removed as “excessive”. Previously, the presence of a first aid kit was also checked during a technical inspection, but this requirement was abolished back in 2022: now it is purely advisory.

Director of the First Aid first aid training center, senior first aid instructor Maxim Shtyb insists that a car must have a “high-quality first aid kit.” First of all, Mr. Shtyb emphasizes, this is necessary for the driver himself: in the event of an accident, he is obliged to organize the provision of first aid, and the better he does this, the less likely the consequences will be for him. “There are a huge number of examples when, as a result of first aid, people survive, for example, with severe bleeding, respiratory arrest, loss of consciousness. These are dangerous conditions, and if first aid is not provided immediately, even the arrival of an ambulance ten minutes later will not change anything,” says Mr. Shtyb. According to him, the low quality of car first aid kits and the limited use of them have long been discussed in professional circles. For example, a “rescue blanket,” as he calls an isothermal blanket, is a “modern, effective device” for providing first aid to someone who is freezing. Very often, injured people even in warm weather need to be warmed up, the rescuer emphasized.

Ekaterina Serebrennikova, a general practitioner at the medical technical company Doctor Nearby, confirms that expanding the first aid kit is an “important and correct” step. “As for a mouthpiece or cover for cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the use of such medical devices requires special training and first aid skills,” comments Ms. Serebrennikova. “Not everyone has such skills, not everyone can use them in a stressful situation. Now they are starting to install defibrillators in public places; they have appeared, for example, in the MFC. Statistics were published that people did not use defibrillators, even if they were located four minutes away, simply because they did not know how to do it.” In her opinion, training programs are needed so that people can, among other things, use a first aid kit in emergency situations.

The new order on completing a car first aid kit may come into force on September 1, 2024 and will be valid until September 1, 2030. Drivers will be able to use first aid kits produced before this time until December 31, 2025.

Natalya Kostarnova, Ivan Buranov