Mangalore: State Mulling Desirability of Introducing '108 Ambulance' in Airport
Daijiworld Media Network -Mangalore (SP)
Mangalore, Oct 21: A couple of recent incidents that had occurred at the local airport seem to have left the state government thinking on the desirability of extending the '108 Ambulance Services' (Arogya Kavacha) which at present, are mainly catering to the needs of the accident victims of highways, to the local airport.
Over a month back, a woman, who had boarded a flight to Muscat, had reported sick after the flight took off. The flight had then returned to the airport and had taken off again after offloading the passenger concerned. Lack of emergency medical services at the airport had sent the officials in a tizzy then. In the recent incident, an entrepreneur who had arrived here from Bangalore through a Jet Airways flight on October 17, had complained of chest pain. He had later collapsed while walking towards the exit, after alighting from the aircraft. As there was no ambulance facility, he was taken in a private vehicle to a hospital, but he breathed his last before he could be attended there.
The airport has its own, 'Category 7' emergency ambulance facility. But, this ambulance is operational only at the runway while a flight lands or takes off. It is learnt that if this vehicle is used to shift the airways staff or passengers to hospitals outside its operational area under unforeseen emergencies, the flights that are expected to land at the airport in the meantime, need to be kept informed of this fact.
District in-charge minister Krishna J Palemar has already spoken about a proposal to provide a permanent emergency health counter at the airport. He said that he already has held discussions about the issue with home minister, Dr V S Acharya. The department concerned has been asked to study the facilities presently available at the airport and steps are afoot to introduce the '108 ambulance service' in the airport till the emergency healthcare counter is opened at the airport, he clarified.
As the airport is located away from the city, and as it takes lot of time to reach the nearest hospital with proper facilities to handle emergencies, it is a good idea to provide emergency healthcare facility at the airport, as many a time, even senior citizens and people with serious health complications have to wait for hours together for their flights, and if in the meantime they need any medical assistance, the said counter will come handy.