New $13m medical aircraft arrives in Adelaide for Royal Flying Doctor Service
Flying times for outback rescues will be slashed and lives saved thanks to a new $13 million medical aircraft, which arrived in Adelaide on Monday.
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Flying times for outback rescues will be slashed and lives saved thanks to a new $13 million medical aircraft, which arrived in Adelaide on Monday.
The Royal Flying Doctor Service has taken ownership of the purpose-built aeromedical jet, named Medi-Jet 24, which is one of the only three in the world – the other two are part of the RFDS Western Operations.
The jet, dubbed the ultimate flying intensive care unit, arrived in Adelaide following its flights from a factory in Switzerland.
The aircraft, expected to be in operation from June after flight crews receive training, will slash the flying time of long-haul patient evacuations, as well as offer the capacity to transfer three stretchered intensive care patients and four clinicians on any one mission.
“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,” RFDS Central Operations chief executive Tony Vaughan said.
Four years in the planning and construction, the Medi-Jet 24 is funded by bequests, corporate sponsors and donations from the community.
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