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UK citizens equipped with lifesaving kits to cope with stabbings

The picture of a young man who bled to death in Birmingham after a knife attack is on bleed control kits that are going to be made available to the public in the central English city. (Photo by Sky News)

Authorities in Britain’s second largest city of Birmingham have rolled out a scheme to equip residents with lifesaving kits that could reduce fatalities resulting from a surge in knife crimes.

Sky News said in a report Thursday that the city council and ambulance service in Birmingham were preparing to launch a joint scheme to place bleeding control kits at certain public venues so that residents could use them to help victims of stabbings and stop their fatal bleeding.

That comes right after West Midlands' Police declared knife crime “an emergency” after stabbings resulted in three deaths in less than a week in Birmingham.

Britain’s ministries of interior and health have approved the launch of the pilot scheme which came as a result of more than a year of fund-raising and campaigns by families of victims of knife crime. Officials hope the initiative could be spread to other large cities in the UK where knife crime deaths have increased to historic levels.

The packs are meant to help individuals stop catastrophic bleeds of victims of knife crimes before professional medical help arrives on scene of the incidents. They include items such as dressings, gauze bandages and tourniquets.

The public in Britain is increasingly dissatisfied with the inability of the government and council officials to contain violence on the streets.

Many believe recurrent government cuts to police budget are to blame for increased number of stabbings and the related deaths. Police in London, where homicide rates topped a decade-long record last year, have insisted years of cuts have left the force understaffed and unable to respond to emergencies on the streets.

The government denies austerity measures have had any role in increased violence, saying it is more related to new drug trafficking methods and other sociological factors.


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