Unanimously, the deputies voted in favor of an obligation to install cardiac defibrillators in certain places open to the public.
The National Assembly unanimously adopted on Thursday a bill which notably provides for an obligation to install cardiac defibrillators in certain establishments open to the public, from stadiums to shopping centers.
During the examination of this consensual text, carried by Jean-Pierre Decool (related to Les Républicains) and co-signed by elected LR and UDI, the Secretary of State in charge of the Elderly and Autonomy, Pascale Boistard has highlighted “a public health problem that goes far beyond political divisions”.
“Insufficient” facilities
The government is “convinced that progress must be made” on the use of defibrillators, the installations of which remain “still insufficient”, declared Pascale Boistard, defending the objective of promoting “optimal coverage of the territory”.
According to Jean-Pierre Decool, “to date, between 120,000 and 150,000 automated cardiac defibrillators, would be distributed throughout the French territory”, but “their establishment is based on a voluntary choice” and remains unevenly distributed to this day.
50,000 annual deaths
The rapporteur of this text, underlined, in the presence of several medical deputies, that “nearly 50,000 people die unexpectedly each year, victims of cardiac arrest”.
This elected representative from the North and member of the Social Affairs Commission affirmed that these people “taken in charge in the minutes following the accident, could be saved”, the survival rate being “35% when the victim is defibrillated” .
Its initial proposal proposed an obligation to install defibrillators, with thresholds in particular of 50 employees in companies or 1,000 square meters for commercial establishments.
Places defined by decree
The deputies finally adopted a government amendment, identical to a PS amendment, which creates such an obligation by providing that “the types and categories of establishments open to the public which are required to be equipped with a visible automated external defibrillator and easy to access ”will be defined by decree. This obligation may concern places such as stadiums, administrations, sports facilities or shopping centers.
The deputies also decided to create a database listing the places of implantation of defibrillators, during this first reading examination. The initial text also intended to increase the penalties incurred in the event of degradation of defibrillators and make compulsory training for students in the use of these devices. But these two provisions were rejected, deemed “redundant” with the law in force by the government.
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