History and facts about air ambulances

By Sabir Shah

November 18, 2019

LAHORE: Former Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif will depart for the United Kingdom Tuesday aboard an air ambulance, which is a specially equipped aircraft used to transport sick or injured people comfortably and efficiently to hospitals in an emergency.

On most occasions, helicopters are used as air ambulances. The British Medical Air Service, which serves customers all over the world, writes on its website: “The equipment inside most air ambulances is the same as you will find in an intensive care ward: one – or, in larger planes – several mobile hospital beds (the stretchers on which patients are transported) and many medical devices, which constantly analyze patients’ vital signs and emit an alarm signal if there is a problem. The equipment in each air ambulance can include everything from breathing apparatus and monitoring systems, pacemakers and defibrillators to blood transfusion equipment and a comprehensive supply of medication.”

The organisation, which claims to have 40 years of expertise in arranging national and international ambulance flights and repatriations, and whose staff speak multiple languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Dutch, Turkish, Polish and four Arabic dialects, adds: “Air ambulances will carry adrenalin, propofol, beta blockers, anti-coagulants (blood thinners), such as heparin, and many other emergency medications. Thanks to the versatile equipment on board air ambulances, we are able to carry ventilated patients safely and at short notice. All medical equipment and medication carried on board is specially selected to fit the needs of the patient who is being transported. In this way, we can always ensure we deliver the best possible medical care to each patient.”

History shows that the first air ambulance service dates back to 1870 during the 17-week long “Siege of Paris” by the invading German forces.

It was the French who first found use for air ambulances in their military endeavours. The air ambulances were not really mechanical. What the French used were air balloons!

However, the use of air transport to provide medical evacuation on the battlefield dates to World War-1, but its role was expanded dramatically during the Korean War (1950-1953) and the Vietnam War (1955-1975).

The first recorded British ambulance flight took place in 1917 in Turkey when a soldier, who had been shot in the ankle, was flown to the nearest hospital in 45 minutes. The same journey by land would have taken some three days to complete.

By the 1920s, France and the United Kingdom were using fully organised air ambulance services during the African and Middle Eastern Colonial Wars. The 1930s saw several private air ambulance companies across the world.

The medical flight industry in the United States employs over 21,000 skilled professionals. The average salary is over $68,000. However, their exemplary services prove useful to over 400 thousand people each year!

It is the ageing population that is driving the worldwide air ambulance industry. For instance, in the United States, the industry is expected to grow at the rate of 10 per cent per annum, mainly owing to an aging population. The global air ambulance industry has more helicopters when compared to airplanes.