A STATE of the art purpose-built aeromedical jet will soon join the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) to care for the South Australian community in times of emergency.
Labelled the “ultimate flying intensive care unit”, the $13m RFDS Medi-Jet 24 touched down in Adelaide this week in readiness to provide unparalleled performance and versatility to the State.
Speaking at the jet’s official unveiling at the RFDS Adelaide base yesterday, chief executive officer of RFDS central operations Tony Vaughan said the jet would enhance patient care and help save more lives.
“The RFDS Medi-Jet 24 will slash the flying time of long-haul critical patient evacuations, as well as provide the capacity to transfer three stretchered ICU patients and four clinicians on the one mission,” Mr Vaughan said.
“Another unique feature of the RFDS Medi-Jet 24 is our custom rear patient loading door with built-in stretcher loader which will further reduce total mission times by the safer and quicker loading of patients and specialist medical equipment.”
RFDS Mount Gambier Support Group chair Bill Russon attended the official unveiling and said the aircraft was “incredible”.
“It is one of three purpose-built aeromedical jets in the world with the other two located in Perth and Broome,” he said.
“It will have a huge positive impact on long-hauls, given it halves the travel time.
Mr Russon said the South East could expect the aircraft to be available if a major catastrophe occured.
“It can carry three patients at one time, so if we were to have an incident in the South East, where there were multiple casualties, this aircraft will come in handy,” he said.
Following the completion of flight training and crew orientation, the RFDS Medi-Jet 24 is scheduled to start operational service in June 2019.
“An additional asset to the RFDS’ fleet of medically-equipped Pilatus PC-12 aircraft here in South and Central Australia, the RFDS Medi-Jet 24 will boost operational capacity and critical response times for long-haul and interstate evacuations,” Mr Vaughan said.
“The RFDS Medi-Jet 24 is there for the interstate transfer of a critically-ill Adelaide resident in the middle of the night for an emergency organ transplant, or the retrieval of multiple patients from an accident or incident in the remote areas such as the Cooper Basin.”
With the RFDS used around twice a day in Mount Gambier, Mr Russon said the service was an integral part of the local community.
“This new aircraft is just another progression and leap forward for the service,” he said.
“No matter who you speak to, more often than not they will know someone who has used the RFDS service, so it is vital to the district.”
