In Sep 2020, ICATT launched dedicated air ambulance services to transport critically ill patients with Covid-19 at Jakkur airport. The first Covid-19 patient was transferred from Kolkata to Chennai. As we know, COVID is a highly contagious infection. Unfortunately, due to limited resources and space in the preclinical setting, medical aircrews are at an increased risk of contracting the disease than hospital healthcare staff.
To prevent the transmission of highly contagious infectious diseases during air travel, several methods have been employed. But they may not be effective in transferring COVID-positive patients. To resolve this problem, ICATT introduced advanced equipment called the German Isolation Pod, which facilitates the transfer of COVID-19 patients without spreading the infection to others.
Advantages of German ISOPod:
- The advantages of setting up a small patient isolation unit (PIU) like German pods are that medical professionals travelling with patients might not need to wear any PPE kits while transporting. Still, doctors will have full access to the patients. With these devices, patients who are breathing or are on mechanical ventilators can be transported in small helicopters, pressure jets, or land ambulances without the equipment between transport units.
- A distinctive feature of this PIU is that it maintains its airtightness even when the cabin pressure drops suddenly.
- Our healthcare system became more effective with isolation systems for all patients during a COVID19 outbreak.
- Air ambulances usually need to be disinfected for two to four hours between trips. An isolation pod protects the staff and subsequent patients from the risk of infection and reduces the time to disinfect during quick transfers.
- Our healthcare system can improve its efficiency by safe evacuation and transportation of patients between hospitals with the help of individual patient isolation systems.
A German Isolation POD is very effective when a patient with a highly infectious disease like COVID must be transported inside a plane for several hours. This provides a standard operating procedure (SOP) to prevent infection during the transfer of COVID-19 pandemic in fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and land ambulances. The article describes ICATT’s Integrated Air Ambulance Services in Bangalore for transporting COVID 19 patients by air.
Bangalore Air Ambulance for Covid-19 Patients Transport
We arranged a German ISOPOD in one of our jets, planes and helicopters from the fleet based at HAL airport. In addition to providing quick medical assistance, high-quality medical care will also be provided by experienced doctors and paramedics who are well-trained in handling critical care patients in flight. Bengaluru was chosen to be the centre of ICATT to help patients in South India, particularly during the COVID19 pandemic.
Dr Shalini Nalwad, co-founding & director of ICATT Air Ambulance Services, says that our country needs better medical emergency services to handle the increasing emergency cases, especially when a pandemic like COVID19 strikes us. Most of the services are provided from Delhi and Mumbai because our main base used to be there, and we feel we are offering fragmented service across the country, failing to meet the requirements.
A few years back, we built our base in Bengaluru. We know that for a service to operate at its full potential, we need fully equipped on-ground ambulances and helicopters to deliver comprehensive care throughout the Tier II cities without losing too much time in the land traffic.
We have done around 200 Covid patient transfers during this pandemic and more than 500 domestic transfers over two years. We are also known for our international patient transfers and organ transfers. ICATT ‘s Air Ambulance has a dedicated team of medevac doctors, intensive care specialists (intensivists), perfusionists, paramedics and other health care professionals trained and certified in ‘Fellowship in Aero Medicine’ (FAM). In record time, the team managed to complete many patient transfers. Call +91-9701111156 to know more detailed information.
