MEDICAL students from University of Southampton are teaching people how to react if someone is bleeding or unconscious.

It comes after a national charity StreetDoctors was launched by two medical doctors in 2015, who felt knife crime was “becoming more of an issue” and that “not enough people knew what to do” if they saw a stabbing.

The campaign has since come to the city in a bid to teach young people how to administer first aid in emergency sessions.

Two types of 45-minute sessions are regularly run by Southampton StreetDoctors, such as what to do if someone is bleeding as well as how to react when someone is unconscious.

President of Southampton StreetDoctors, Felon Mahrous, said: “Being a Southampton resident, I have seen first hand the number of people especially in Southampton being affected and involved in knife crime.

“Knowing what I know as a medical student, I felt that it was a duty to highlight to local youngsters the importance of not getting involved in violence because they are playing with their lives.

“It is especially important in Southampton as rates of knife crime are going up, so this is more important than ever.”

In June 2019, the possession of weapons offence rate in Southampton was higher than the average possession of weapons offence rate across similar areas.

The group aims to equip young people with practical skills to save lives when and where it is most needed, as well as reduce the likelihood of violence.

Volunteer Kashif Quazi said: “We went to the Portsmouth Youth Offending Centre and it became more apparent, the impact we can have in helping young people and the dangers of knife crime and violence.”

To book a session, visit https://streetdoctors.org/make-an-enquiry/.