WHAT IS AN AIR AMBULANCE?
Air Ambulance Services are used in cases where the transport by ground ambulance could endanger the life of a patient or in remote areas where there is no ground accessibility. Air Ambulance provides state-of-the-art advanced life support equipment on-board its aircraft. The Air Ambulance service is yet another facet of the Emergency Services. Air Ambulances are manned by staff specially trained in Flight Physiology, Advance Cardiac Life Support and Critical Care Medicine. Air Ambulance Services can cover many places in India, due to over 400 airfields, many of them having night landing facilities.
HISTORY
First air evacuation was done in 1870, 33 yrs before the historic Kitty Hawk flight when 160 wounded casualties were evacuated by air balloons during Prussian siege of Paris, by French Physiologist and Father of Aero medicine, Paul Bert. In 1917, French aircraft, Dorand AR II, was used as the first such air ambulance. During World War II nearly 1 million causalities were evacuated by air with a death rate of 4/100,000. It was not until 1933 that the first British Civilian Air Ambulance Service was started, serving the Scottish Isles.
The Military Assistance to Safety and Traffic (MAST) system began operations in 1969 at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. MAST was started as an experiment by the Department of Transportation to study the feasibility of military helicopters augmenting existing emergency medical services. Air ambulance services were used during the wars India has had with Pakistan. Air evacuation of civilian casualties has been done by the Indian Air Force at the time of national calamities, but no such service existed exclusively for the civilians until the India Aero medical Services was started in 1995
TYPES OF AIR AMBULANCE
Two types of air ambulances are available:
First air evacuation was done in 1870, 33 yrs before the historic Kitty Hawk flight when 160 wounded casualties were evacuated by air balloons during Prussian siege of Paris, by French Physiologist and Father of Aero medicine, Paul Bert. In 1917, French aircraft, Dorand AR II, was used as the first such air ambulance. During World War II nearly 1 million causalities were evacuated by air with a death rate of 4/100,000. It was not until 1933 that the first British Civilian Air Ambulance Service was started, serving the Scottish Isles. The Military Assistance to Safety and Traffic (MAST) system began operations in 1969 at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. MAST was started as an experiment by the Department of Transportation to study the feasibility of military helicopters augmenting existing emergency medical services. Air ambulance services were used during the wars India has had with Pakistan. Air evacuation of civilian casualties has been done by the Indian Air Force at the time of national calamities, but no such service existed exclusively for the civilians until the India Aero medical Services was started in 1995
Helicopter Air Ambulance
Due to its unique capabilities such as flying into inaccessible areas and taking off from and landing at narrow spaces, flying over difficult terrain, it is the primary mode of emergency operations. However its range of operation is generally limited to 150 to 300 miles, depending upon the type of helicopter. The helicopter offers great advantages over road transport, especially, inbeing able to approach incident or accident site where access by road may be very difficult or where roads may not even exist.
Fixed wing air ambulance
It can transfer the patients' long distances, but must load and offload them at the airports or existing airfields. Since hospitals are rarely located near the airports this necessitates ground transfer at either ends of the flight. The type of air ambulance which is optimal in a particular situation will depend upon distance, terrain, patients' condition, diagnosis, flying time and Civil Aviation rules and regulations.
AMBULANCE AIRCRAFT DETAILS (Available in Delhi):
| Type |
Speed |
Pressurized |
Range
Endurance
|
Notice
Required
|
Stretcher Case |
| Cessna Citation-Jet |
650 kmph |
Yes |
1500km |
2 Hrs |
ONE+1 PACK+3 PERSON
RESCE TEAM
|
| King Air C-90 Turboprop |
330 kmph |
Yes |
1000km |
2 Hrs |
ONE+1 PACK+2 PERSON
RESCE TEAM
|
| King Air B-200 Turboprop |
440 kmph |
Yes |
1800km |
2 Hrs |
ONE+1 PACK+3 PERSON
RESCE TEAM
|
|
Pilatus Porter PC-12
Turboprop
|
330 kmph |
Yes |
1800km |
2 Hrs |
ONE+1 PACK+3 PERSON
RESCE TEAM
|
| Dornier-228 Piston |
220 kmph |
Yes |
1000km |
2 Hrs |
ONE+1 PACK+3 PERSON
RESCE TEAM
|
| Helicopter Bell 407 |
- |
- |
250km |
2 Hrs |
- |
ROLE OF AIR AMBULANCE
Medical help that can be given to the patients during air evacuation falls into three categories:
- Basic life support services involve transportation of stable patients who have no serious emergency conditions and are not critically ill, and for whom no major in-flight stabilization is needed and anticipated.
- Advanced life support includes basic life support services, cardio pulmonary resuscitation including cardiac monitoring, defibrillation, trauma care and other life support measures like provision of continuous oxygen supply, monitoring of blood pressure & temperature, IV and central lines etc.
- Specialized life support requires specialist doctors on board, highly sophisticated medical equipment like Aortic balloon pump or Portable infant transportation systems, etc.
Aero medical transportation missions can be divided into three categories:
- Primary: This includes search and rescue, transportation of skilled personnel to scene of accident, transportation of equipment and medical material to scene of accident and evacuation from scene of emergency.
- Secondary: Inter-hospital or intra-hospital transfers
- Tertiary: This includes inter-hospital transfers to tertiary care centers, national or international repatriation, and transportation of donor organs and drugs.
