Air ambulance, an achievement in trauma surgery: IAF Chief
Indian Air Force has recognised the need for speed for limiting mortality and morbidity while transporting the critically ill from the battlefield, Chief of IAF, Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa said.
By : migrator
Update: 2017-06-25 20:06 GMT
Coimbatore
He was speaking after inaugurating an Air Ambulance of the private Ganga Hospital here. “This is a landmark achievement in the field of trauma surgery. During the Kargil war in 1999 IAF Mi-17 and Mi-8 helicopters were sent to evacuate casualties form the icy Himalayan heights to airfields of Srinagar and Awantipur from where critical patients were transported to Command Hospital at Chandigarh and Research and Referral Army Hospital in New Delhi,” he said.
Subsequently, IAF formulated its own Critical Care Air Transport Team (CCATT) in 2007, using an indigenously designed Patient Transfer Unit), which could be retrofitted in either fixed wing or rotary wing aircraft, he said.
As many as 17 transport aircraft of IAF can be converted into Air Ambulances, Dhanoa said. CCATT has the expertise and wherewithal to air transport the critically ill from remote corners of the country to tertiary care centre of the Armed Forces while providing critical care in flight, he said.
Dhanoa, who was at the Sulur Air Force Station in Coimbatore on Friday and Saturday lauded the efforts taken by the personnel at the base for making it ready for fighter operations by 2018. He told this while addressing the officer here after visiting the Air Officer Commanding 43 Wing and the Air Officer Commanding 5 BRD Air Force.
He also lauded the depot for maintaining AVRO, Dornier fleets and calibration of aircraft testers of the entire air force through its Mobile Air Transportable Calibration Laboratory for its clockwork precision. During his interaction with the air force personnel, he reiterated that efforts will be made to improve their working and living environment.
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