Air ambulance services launched for critical care patients across southern India

BENGALURU: International Critical Air Transfer Team, a Bengaluru-based air ambulance company and Kyathi, an aviation firm, on Tuesday launched air ambulance services for long-distance emergency travel, helicopters and land transport for last mile connectivity in the region.

The fixed wing aircraft will be stationed at HAL airport and will be equipped with a German Isolation Pod that the company said can be used to transport critical covid-19 patients as well.

The introduction of an air ambulance service comes at a time when several lives have been lost due to long hours of travel time to hospitals. But cost of operations had grounded similar ventures in the past.

“India requires better emergency medical services to meet the growing number of emergencies. What exists today, primarily stationed out of Delhi and Mumbai and providing fragmented services across the country, falls short of meeting the



requirement," Shalini Nalwad, co-founder & director, ICATT, said in a statement.

Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa, who launched the service, said the air ambulance, stationed in Bengaluru, could be used across south India.

The company will also have a comprehensive medevac team of doctors, intensivists, perfusionists and paramedics.

The company said it had carried out the first aero-medical transfer since the lockdown from Afghanistan to India. ICATT has also undertaken India’s longest ever medical airlift from South Africa to Chennai, the company claimed.

"This year, ICATT has completed 63 domestic transfers, 10 international transfers and 7 organ transfers until date," according to the statement.

The organisation has also played an important role in rescuing and treating people during the list of disasters to hit Kerala.