After a decade-long wait, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi is all set to get a rooftop helipad. It will make the institution, the first government hospital to receive accident victims and critically ill patients through airlifting facility.
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Clearance application for the helipad to be operational by next year has been readied. It will be sent to the aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) soon.
Patients will be lifted from the accident site from bordering states, highways and hard to reach regions, once the helipad is operational. According to the responses, the services will be expanded in the city, as well.
The underground tunnel beneath Aurobindo Marg, connecting AIIMS Trauma Centre to the main campus in East Ansari Nagar will also help to move the patients quickly into the hospital.
The infrastructure which earlier had some issues as per DGCA inspection has now been developed according to DGCA norms. The hospital is doing final preparations before going to DGCA for approval. That is the identification of a nodal person with the technical knowledge to facilitate patient transfers.
150-200 accident and injury cases are treated at AIIMS Trauma Centre. 10% of patients require immediate medical attention.
Five to six patients annually have been airlifted to AIIMS for their treatment including the Unnao rape survivor in July this year. They reach AIIMS after landing at the Delhi airport.
Private hospitals in the country such as Medanta and Apollo airlift patients on a daily basis. It can cost Rs 1 Lakh per flying hour. Dr Yatin Mehta, chairman, institute of critical care and anaesthesiology, Medanta told HT, that they bring about 50-55 patients per month and the cost for airlifting domestic patients can cost between Rs 4-6 Lakh. Dr Anupam Sibal, group medical director, adds that patients have to simply bear the cost of fuel and the plane.
