Health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said the ministry’s medical development division and the legal affairs division of the Prime Minister’s Department wanted the Pre-Hospital Care Bill to encourage members of the public who have certified skills to “confidently step forward” and carry out life-saving interventions during emergencies.

“This is something I’ve been advocating since my first term, and we are now looking into it,” he said in a Bernama report.

“The ministry is determined to carry this out… We hope this bill will be tabled at the end of this year or early next year.”

He was speaking to reporters after the donation by 99 Speedmart Sdn Bhd of 210 automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to the ministry.

Of the 210 AED units, 170 will be distributed to select hospitals and health clinics while the remaining 40 units will be handed over to 17 ministries and government agencies in Putrajaya.

Dzulkefly said the ministry encouraged the installation of AEDs in public areas to ensure that they are easily accessible during emergencies.

“Studies have shown that the use of an AED within three to five minutes after a cardiac arrest can increase survival rates by 50-70%,” he said.

He said basic life support techniques or cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and AED usage should not be knowledge exclusive to healthcare workers.

“It should be a basic community skill. The health ministry calls on more people to undergo CPR and AED training, which is now widely offered by the Malaysian Red Crescent and St John Ambulance Malaysia,” he said.