30 Choppers dedicated to aeromedical services

30 choppers dedicated to aeromedical services


Posted on 30 November 2010 - 06:40am Print newsdesk@thesundaily.com
http://www.thesundaily.my/node/135718


PETALING JAYA (Nov 29, 2010): The government plans to speed up emergency rescue and medical response throughout the peninsula with the use of about 30 helicopters dedicated to providing aeromedical services.



Hospital Kuala Lumpur Emergency and Trauma Unit head Datuk Dr Abu Hassan Asaari Abdullah said today the plan to use helicopters represented the “future of emergency medical response in our country”.



The plan mooted under the 10th Malaysia Plan, is expected to be fully implemented by 2015. Under the plan, the helicopters are expected to be distributed and given jurisdiction over the northern, central and

southern zones.



Abu Hassan said a task force under the National Security Council had been set up to co-ordinate and integrate all emergency rescue teams, including the Red Crescent, police, the fire and rescue department, to create a seamless unit that will respond quickly and efficiently to rescue victims in emergency situations, and this includes medical response by air.



Speaking at the second International Conference on Pre-Hospital Care and Emergency Communications Systems, he said a proposal to buy the helicopters had been submitted to the Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister’s Department.



As part of the conference, the Simpang Ampat express bus tragedy of Oct 10 , in which 13 people died, was re-enacted with the use of a rescue helicopter from Eurocopter. It was shown that a helicopter could have hypothetically saved the victims who did not get timely medical aid as ambulances were stuck in the jam along the expressway after the multi-vehicle collision.



Following the accident, police air unit commander Senior Assistant Commissioner Datuk Chuah Ghee Lye had suggested that it was high time Malaysia set up an air ambulance service to help victims who needed urgent medical attendance after an accident.



“Transporting victims quickly to hospitals will ensure they receive medical care quickly,” he said, adding that although setting up such a service would involve a high cost, it would benefit the nation in the long term, especially when faced with critical moments.



Chuah had said the police air wing was not adequately equipped to provide such medical rescue services.



Abu Hassan said emergency air medical rescue in the peninsula was ad hoc and there was no formal air rescue service.



“If the need is dire, helicopters from the military, police force or fire department would be called in to transport critical patients to the nearest hospital.



“Currently, the standard guideline for the use of a helicopter is only when it will take more than three hours to reach the victim by land,” he said.



However in East Malaysia, there are nine helicopters for rescue and medical response, as well as several others for use by the Orang Asli Affairs Department.



Abu Hassan declined to say if the 30 helicopters would be bought from Eurocopter, but the Eurocopter EC135 is already in use in Sabah and Sarawak.



A top-of-the-range, fully-equipped EC145 helicopter costs US$8 million (RM24 million).