India: Helicopter emergency medical services to begin from AIIMS Rishikesh

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has proposed a pilot project to station a helicopter at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh to meet the golden hour requirements for accident victims.

Once successful, the ministry explained that this project would be a quantum leap in healthcare facilities in India, and would pave the way to rope in other private players for such services.

It intends to undertake a pilot project implementation of utilising helicopters in EMS roles to explore the viability, benefits and risks (if any) that this entails, so as to define the approach that can be adopted before larger resources are committed.

Many operators have already shown their keen interest in providing the service. In this regard, the ministry has requested an Expression of Interest (EoI) for helicopter emergency medical services.

The document accessed by ANI read that the ministry was desirous of developing helicopter emergency medical services, in order to provide speedy medical outreach to needy citizens.

Air operators who express their interest will be invited to participate in a subsequent EoI conference at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, New Delhi wherein they would be invited to make a presentation on their experience, capabilities and related issues, the document read.

In medical parlance, the golden hour is the time period where access to definitive care within an hour of the occurrence of life-threatening trauma, can make all the difference between life and death.

Plans to incorporate a larger network, to augment land-based ambulances, are also in the works, in order to increase the accessibility of trauma care services across the country.

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