AIIMS to have air ambulance service

New Delhi: India’s premier medical institute, AIIMS, is set to become the first government hospital in the country to get a helipad and start an air ambulance service to deliver urgent medical attention to critically ill patients. An application by AIIMS is being processed by the ministry of civil aviation and permission has been sought to construct a helipad. Senior doctors say close to 50% of critical patients in India die on their way to hospital.
The service won’t come cheap. Transferring a patient, say from Chandigarh to Delhi, could cost close to Rs 1.5 lakh.
The helicopter ambulance will have paramedic staff and a doctor trained to handle critical patients. The staff on board and on the ground will be given special training on transporting patients in these choppers.
The service will be available at the AIIMS trauma centre which has been operational for the past 10 months though it is yet to be formally inaugurated.
06/12/07 Kamayani Singh/Times of India

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Categories: New Dec 2007