Thiruvananthapuram: Air ambulance catches a tailwind

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government proposal to provide an air ambulance facility to aid organ donation and shift critical patients has evoked a good response with four companies evincing interest in the project. Pawan Hans Limited, Gujarat's Flying Birds Aviation, Medi Air Ambulance Services from Kochi and International Critical Care Air Transfer Team from Bangalore have submitted expressions of interest (EoI) to Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd (KMSCL), the nodal agency.

The EoIs submitted by these companies will be scrutinized by a government technical committee to authenticate prior experience and the credentials of the companies will be verified. The committee will submit a report to the director board of KMSCL that will be enable the state government to take a decision. The government would then go for a tendering process only after its share of the project cost is worked out.

The government is keen on examining the cost factor as it will have to shell out a considerable amount to utilize the services of airports. The government is mooting a public-private partnership to execute the project. "This is a first-of-its-kind initiative and hence we are not aware of the amount we need to spend. We have to study this aspect. The EoIs will give us a fair idea on how we need to proceed further," said KMSCL MD G R Gokul.

It was at the behest of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy that the state health department instructed KMSCL to invite companies for beginning the service. Of this lot, Pawan Hans enjoys government back with 51% of the shares being held by the Union government and the rest by PSU giant Oil and Natural Gas Corporation is (ONGC) and has a fleet of 46 helicopters.

The aim of this service is to facilitate speedy transportation of critical patients and to effectively implement Mrithasanjeevani plan put forward by the Kerala Network of Organ Sharing. The recent organ transplant instances ­ which began with Mathew Achadan (an auto driver at Lisie hospital) receiving a heart from Neelakanda Sharma (a brain dead patient at Sree Chitra Institute of Medical Sciences) - fostered this concept.

The chief minister took special interest in executing this initiative after the Mrithasanjeevani team submitted a proposal on the feasibility of beginning an air ambulance service. The Navy, which ferried the heart from Thiruvananthapuram, had evinced its interest stating that it would extend all possible support if government began a project.

The government had then convened a meeting of all registered organ transplant centres (hospitals) to gather data about the minimum requirements and the procedures that need to be followed. Now, it will hold a similar discussion with the four companies that have evinced interest in the air ambulance project.