Hong Kong fire services report 8,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in 2025
Hong Kong's Fire Services Department handled about 8,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrest cases in 2025, with bystander CPR or AED use in about a third of cases. The department has trained over 24,000 secondary students and 53,000 public members in CPR and AED use since 2017, but lacks comprehensive d
Hong Kong's Fire Services Department handled about 8,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrest cases in 2025 – averaging 22 per day – according to a legislative council reply published on 11 November 2026. The reply, in response to questions from lawmaker Dr Hon, provided data on survival rates, public access defibrillator (AED) availability and training programmes.
Between 2023 and 2025, the proportion of cases where patients had a pulse upon arrival at hospital ranged from 7.5 per cent to 8.3 per cent, while survival to discharge rates ranged from 4.3 per cent to 5.2 per cent. Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or AED use before paramedic arrival occurred in 33.3 per cent to 34.7 per cent of cases over the same period.
The government reported that 4,038 public-use AEDs are now available across Hong Kong, though this figure is based on voluntary submissions to the Fire Services Department's 'AED Find' online platform. The department stated it has no statutory power to require registration of all AEDs, and therefore cannot provide a total count or per-capita ratio. Over 380 organisations have voluntarily uploaded information on 4,617 AEDs to the platform since its launch in June 2021.
On training, the Fire Services Department's secondary school 'Do It' programme, launched in May 2024, has reached over 120 schools with about 24,000 students completing courses as of October 2026. The department also operates a 'Kick-start a Heart' programme that has provided free CPR and AED training to 53,000 public members since 2017, and a 'Community Emergency First Responder' scheme that has trained over 18,000 people. More than 680,000 participants have attended community education activities over the past three years.
The department said it aims to extend systematic first-aid training to primary students, elderly people and family caregivers, and is studying how to strengthen targeted training for these groups. It noted that a 'Campus Education Programme' already covers kindergarten, primary and secondary students with emergency response knowledge including CPR and AED use.
Regarding performance measurement, the Fire Services Department said its primary indicator remains the response time target of reaching 92.5 per cent of emergency calls within 12 minutes. It stated that patient clinical outcomes such as survival rates should not be used as a performance indicator for ambulance services, as they are influenced by multiple factors beyond emergency response. The department said it continues to review its training programmes and community education efforts to promote a culture of bystander intervention.