Karnataka - Bangalore   

`Air ambulance should be part of response system'

Staff Reporter

HAL-sponsored seminar on helicopters in medical services begins

FOR RESCUE: Delegates look at a helicopter model at a seminar on upgrading and modifying helicopters for emergency medical services in Bangalore on Friday. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

BANGALORE: A two-day national seminar on helicopter emergency medical services and air ambulance began here on Friday.

The first day of the seminar saw several technical sessions, including review of helicopter safety, upgradation and modification of various models of helicopters and question-answer sessions.

The seminar is being organised by the Rotary Wing Society of India (Southern Region) and sponsored by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

It will touch base on how these services can be dovetailed for the benefit of accident victims and others who need to be taken from distances to a speciality hospital.

To provide quick response within the "golden hour" when the impact of injuries can be minimised or a heart attack victim stabilised, experts feel helicopter resources available within each State should be integrated into a Disaster Management Response System.

Among the suggestions to be made at the seminar will be what the Union Home Ministry has done for some States like Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh, by subsidising helicopter operations.

If the Union Ministry of Health and insurance companies are ready to take the initiative, schemes can be worked out with helicopter companies.

According to Wg Cdr C.D. Upadhyay, HAL Chief Test Pilot and President, RWSI, Southern Region: "In the early days of military and civil air evacuation, the primary objective was to move the patient to a hospital quickly. Today, while speed is still important, air medical specialists provide advanced life support for the patient in-flight or at the scene of an accident."

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