Modern defibrillators are easy to use

Health officials in the area, which has one of the highest levels of heart disease in the country, were keen to back the move.

As many as 72 staff in the various shopping centres and supermarkets will be trained to use the machines, which use a shock to restart the heart.

It is the first health board venture of its kind in Scotland, under the Braveheart Healthy Heart Initiative.

Project co-ordinator Caroline Brazill said the equipment is vital because if someone's heart stops there are just three minutes to get it going again.

She added that of more than 2,000 people who suffered heart attacks in Lanarkshire last year, the only ones who survived were those who were initially treated with a defibrillator.

The first public place to be kitted out with the life-savers was the MetroCentre shopping mall in Gateshead in April 2000.