Few takers for air ambulance in Bangalore

Launched with much fan-fare for emergency medical evacuation of patients from remote areas to super speciality hospitals in Bangalore, the air ambulance of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is presently being used to ferry marriage parties and shower petals during functions and ceremonies.

HAL had pressed into service a specially designed Chetak helicopter as an air ambulance for medical evacuation of patients in dire need during October last year. The fully equipped helicopter that had been christened as Vayu Vahan was Bangalore’s first air ambulance.

But, the air ambulance has very few takers. “We are not getting calls. So, we use it for flying wedding parties and showering flowers at functions so that we can at least raise money for maintenance. There is a little profit as well”, chief test pilot and retired wing commander C D Upadhyay told reporters.

Among its few medical sorties is the one that ferried a Japanese woman with a broken spine from Badami in north Karnataka to a private hospital in Bangalore during December last year.

An eighty two year old tourist from Japan had become immobilized after she sufferred a fracture in the lower back-bone while travelling in a bus around 210 kms from Bangalore. The air ambulance had flown her to Wockhardt Hospital in Bangalore for treatment.

With calls for emergency medical evacuation few and far between, the air ambulance is also being used for flying marriage parties. Recently, the air ambulance dropped a bridegroom and the baraatis to Tumkur near here, besides showering petals on VVIP statues and religious functions at different places in Bangalore.

Another aspect posing hurdles for the air ambulance in reaching remote areas for medical evacuation is the absence of co-ordination with local police authorities while landing in areas not designated for landing. “Talented pilots can even land by the roadside. The local police should help us in cordoning off the area. But, this never happens in time”, he regretted.