Apollo, Air Deccan launch air ambulance service

Apollo Hospitals Enterprises announced on Wednesday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Deccan Aviation to launch an air ambulance service in Bangalore.

The service will link the New Apollo Hospitals on Bannerghatta Road (south Bangalore), a 250-bed multi-speciality tertiary care unit.

The Bangalore-based Deccan Aviation will provide helicopters to airlift patients or accident victims and bring them to the Apollo Hospital.

"As air evacuations can be expensive, we are in talks with insurance companies to include air evacuation in medical insurance policies, so that we can extend this to everyone who may need the service," said Umapathy Panyala, COO of New Apollo Hospitals.

According to the Apollo officials, this business is still at a nascent stage as each airlift could cost more than Rs 1 lakh.

It may be pertinent to mention that HAL recently introduced a similar service at Rs 25,000 per airlift, which still hasn't caught on.

"While Deccan Aviation will provide the helicopter and take care of aviation logistics, Apollo emergency specialists will take care of the medical aspects by providing trained personnel, equipment and medical care during the flight," he added.

Air ambulance services are used in cases where transport by ground ambulance could endanger the life of a patient or in remote areas where there is no ground accessibility.