Coronavirus | Demand for air ambulances soars as virus exposes crumbling healthcare

Earlier final week, a Beechcraft King Air C 90 air ambulance from Bagdogra misplaced its proper wheel whereas taking off from Nagpur after refuelling. The plane was carrying a COVID-19 affected person for therapy in Mumbai. The pilot was alerted however given the vital situation of his passenger, he stored flying to burn gasoline earlier than coming in to land. After hovering over Mumbai, he lastly made a belly-landing with none casualties.

The incident highlights the a number of dangers taken by the crew of air ambulances as demand has surged for the companies amid the surge of the virulent second wave of COVID-19 throughout the nation. Families resourceful sufficient to constitution these companies achieve this to chop by the tardiness of the COVID-19 response to succeed in higher care on the earliest.

Transporting critically sick sufferers is a troublesome operation at the perfect of conditions however transporting COVID constructive sufferers needing pressing care raises extra challenges, an important being isolating the sufferers and the crew. This in flip has pushed up prices.

Shifting of a COVID-19 affected person from Delhi to Chennai would value not lower than ₹20 lakh, in response to an operator. A Mumbai-Hyderabad flight can set one again by between ₹6 lakh and ₹25 lakh relying on the place the plane is and the medical employees and tools on board.

Despite the prices, nonetheless, aggregators and constitution airplane operators say the demand for air transportation of sufferers has elevated 10-fold and but many sufferers are being turned away as solely a restricted variety of these air ambulances are geared up with isolation pods — mandated by the Health Ministry for ferrying COVID-19 sufferers.

Evacuating sufferers in an isolation pod, a collapsible private capsule with oxygen provide, additionally ensures the security of the crew.

“Where we used to receive one or two enquiries for medical transportation, we now receive as many as 20 requests per day. A majority of them have to be rejected because availability of aircraft is an issue. Our machines are being overused and there is a waiting period of at least two to three days,” Sachit Wadhwa, co-founder of BookMyCharters, says.

Data with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation present solely 18 corporations are authorised to function air ambulances with 26 plane cleared for medical transportation. “Those transporting COVID passengers have to abide by the guidelines of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and of the States of origin and departure,” a DGCA official mentioned.

“There are only six aircraft available in the country with isolation pods, and we have to move them from different locations across the country for our clients. So, if a patient is in Mumbai and our only available aircraft is in Delhi, then the cost of flying in from a different city will have to be borne by the clients,” Mr. Wadhwa says.

Hyderabad most well-liked

Hyderabad adopted by Chennai and Mumbai are probably the most wanted medical hubs for these sufferers.

On April 19, an air ambulance from Bhopal landed on the Begumpet airport in Hyderabad. The affected person was a 37-year-old pulmonologist, Satyendra Mishra, with in depth harm to his lungs, who had attended to a number of COVID-19 sufferers. The Madhya Pradesh authorities consulted Yashoda Hospitals in Hyderabad, and the younger pulmonologist was airlifted to the southern metropolis. After present process therapy, he recovered and was discharged on May 7.

Apart from Dr Mishra, Yashoda Hospitals has handled 31 sufferers airlifted from different States, together with non-COVID sufferers.

“Three of them underwent lung transplantation,” A. Lingaiah, Director of Medical Services, Yashoda Hospitals Group, says.

At least 86 sufferers, most of them with COVID-19, have been airlifted to main company hospitals in Hyderabad up to now couple of months. The sufferers have been from West Bengal, Bihar, Delhi, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha amongst others.

Corporate hospital representatives say the mixture of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) help, lung transplantation services and professional docs is the explanation that sufferers prefers Hyderabad.

The sufferers embody politicians, influential people and folks with deep pockets — Bollywood Actor Sonu Sood not too long ago helped a younger woman from Nagpur airlifting her to Hyderabad.

K. Hari Prasad, president of Apollo Group of Hospitals, says that just about 20 COVID-19 sufferers in superior stage of the illness have been airlifted from Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh up to now couple of months. They underwent therapy on the hospital in Jubilee Hills.

Asked why Hyderabad is chosen over different cities, Riyaz Khan, CEO of Continental Hospitals in Gachibowli, says the delicate infrastructure right here is among the causes.

“Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, too have equally good infrastructure. But the number of cases in those cities are high and it has become difficult for people to find advanced medical attention on time,” he says.

KIMS Hospitals within the metropolis obtained 23 sufferers who have been airlifted up to now two months. Of them, 16 have been COVID-19 sufferers, two with end-stage lung illness.

Coming dwelling to care

Though a big chunk of the demand is for journey from small cities to massive cities with higher medical infrastructure, there are additionally enquiries for journey from metros to Tier-2 and -3 cities as availability of beds in massive cities has turn out to be an issue, says Rajan Mehra, CEO, Club One Air.

When a Coimbatore-based NRI heard of the dying of his brother-in-law from COVID-19 in Uttar Pradesh not too long ago, he didn’t wish to go away his sister, who additionally examined constructive, alone there. She was flown to a hospital in Coimbatore on an plane geared up with an isolation pod. Her youngsters got here later.

Hospitals in Tamil Nadu are witnessing comparable cases of COVID-19 sufferers being introduced again from northern elements of the nation.

Planet-X Aerospace Services, which operates out of Coimbatore and Madurai, has airlifted COVID-19 sufferers seven occasions in simply the previous two months.

Patients have been delivered to cities such as Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchi on isolation pod-equipped plane, says Wing Commander A. Satish Kumar (retd), the corporate’s Director and CEO. “The majority of patients we brought to Tamil Nadu was from northern States. Their families wanted to ensure good medical care and extend emotional support by bringing them home,” he says.

Soaring demand

A Bengaluru-based firm says there was a 500% improve within the demand for its air ambulance companies.

In 2017, when the International Critical Care Air Transfer Team (ICATT) launched its air ambulance service, it was transferring 15 to twenty critically sick sufferers a month. With the second wave of COVID-19, ICATT has been transferring 300 sufferers a month to completely different elements of India.

Rahul Singh Sardar, who runs the air ambulance service with Shalini Nalwad, says they have been concerned within the first few transfers of COVID constructive sufferers within the early days of the pandemic, and had procured isolation pods from Germany.

The staff at present has three plane and mentioned there may be quite a lot of demand for COVID-19 sufferers to be airlifted from Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Punjab and Maharashtra. Dr. Sardar says nearly all of the critically sick sufferers who use their air ambulance service wish to be taken to Chennai or Hyderabad as they really feel that the southern cities have superior medical services. “Most of the patients we have airlifted during the second wave are in their mid-20s to their late-30s,” he says.

In the final one 12 months, Manipal Hospitals has handled 12 COVID-19 sufferers who have been airlifted for therapy, says Sunil Karanth, chairman, head of the division and advisor, vital care medication, Manipal Hospitals. “Currently, there is one patient airlifted from Bhopal on a non-invasive ventilator and now under observation,” he says.

Dr. Karanth says the variety of sufferers being air-lifted to Bengaluru is low. “As we speak right now, Bangalore numbers have peaked while cases in other districts are on the rise. Hence, the number of patients airlifted in the second wave is low. But numbers are likely to increase with time, as Bengaluru sees a decline in cases.”

The must airlift sufferers extends past the mainland. The Lakshadweep Administration has a pact with helicopter operator Pavan Hans to move islanders needing emergency medical care to Kerala. The service was final availed over a month in the past to move a affected person to the Cochin International Airport, official sources mentioned.

An air-evacuation pod developed by Naval Aircraft Yard of Southern Naval Command, Kochi, was relied on to isolate the affected person throughout journey as a precaution within the pandemic state of affairs, they added.

The service of Naval helicopters or plane haven’t been sought in current reminiscence for medical evacuation, a Navy spokesperson mentioned.

A non-public participant, Chipsan Aviation, has three helicopters to allow medical transportation, Sunil Narayanan of the agency says. One of them used for VIP transport might be transformed to have stretcher facility in 45 minutes. “We helped evacuate 14 people recently in West Bengal. Two other helicopters can evacuate patients in sitting position,” he provides.

(With inputs from K Shiva Shanker, Wilson Thomas, Afshan Yasmeen, Tanu Kulkarni and John L. Paul)