India’s yet-to-take off helicopter emergency medical services program (HEMS) received a boost earlier this year with a firm contract for seven Eurocopter EC135s by Bangalore-based Aviators Ltd. signed in the presence of visiting French president François Hollande.
Deliveries are to start by the end of 2013 and operations are to be launched by the first quarter of 2014, Arun Sharma, managing director of Aviators, told AIN. The company, which is holding “discussions with financial institutions and potential partners,” will make an announcement soon, he added.
Unlike current operators that convert their helicopters to EMS on an as-needed basis, Sharma said, “Aviators’ HEMS [aircraft] will not be used for executive charter operations. It will be manned by qualified paramedics, part of the crew.” Equipped with a Fenestron shrouded tail-rotor and bearingless main rotor, the EC135’s large unobstructed cabin, oversized sliding side doors and rear clamshell doors enable rapid loading/unloading of patients and equipment–even with the rotors turning–which facilitates operations during time-critical emergency medical missions, said Norbert Ducrot, Eurocopter senior vice president for the Asia Pacific region.
15/04/13 Neelam Mathews/AINonline
