Doctor Pushpraj (Raj) Arora joins Bundaberg Lifeflight team
Dr Raj Arora has just begun an exciting and challenging phase in his career, working at the Bundaberg Hospital while also training for daring missions.
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Doctor Pushpraj (Raj) Arora had never been to Bundaberg before landing his role at LifeFlight, but his excitement to serve the community has him working across two regional medical services.
“I’ve never been to Bundaberg, but I’ve definitely crossed it on the way to Agnes Waters and the town of 1770. I’ve seen pictures and the beaches look amazing. I’m really looking forward to it,” he said in a Lifeflight press release on Wednesday.
Dr Arora moved from India to Australia in 2008, and completed his high school education in Sydney before attending Griffith University.
He is splitting his time between Bundaberg Hospital and LifeFlight, helping people in the Wide Bay-Burnett region and beyond.
“In emergency, everyone is there to help you, and things just get done, whereas in LifeFlight it’s just you and the nurse or paramedic and you’re out there helping the patient. It’s a really good mix of options,” Dr Arora said.
LifeFlight’s intensive training at the LifeFlight Training Academy prepared Dr Arora for varied scenarios, including attending the primary scene of an incident and inter-facility hospital transfers.
Dr Arora recently experienced his first mission to transport an unwell patient from Bundaberg Hospital to Sunshine Coast University Hospital.
“Thanks to my supportive team, I really enjoyed my first flight and I’m looking forward to many more,” he said in the statement.
Dr Arora is one of 28 doctors about to support communities across Queensland. Before heading out to help people in remote and rural areas, they underwent a week of intensive aeromedical training at the LifeFlight Training Academy.
The specialised Helicopter Underwater Escape Training, sea survival, rescue winching and clinical scenario training, will enable the new doctors to tackle whatever unique challenges they may face in the field.
More than 180 medical professionals, including doctors, are employed by LifeFlight, making it Australia’s largest employer of aeromedical doctors.
LifeFlight HUET manager Mick Dowling said the doctors are trained in scenarios to teach them the primary escape points of an aircraft rapidly filling with water, including simulated darkness.
“It’s important the doctors complete this training to develop escape skills that can then be transferred into an operating aircraft they are working on,” he said.
“It is highly unlikely the aircraft will be in a ditching incident, but aviation best practice requires aviators who are flying over water to complete the HUET training.”
After the doctors were thoroughly dunked, spun, lifted from the water and taught how to survive at sea, they headed to the LifeFlight Clive Berghofer Maintenance Centre for winch training.
LifeFlight training and checking aircrew officer Todd Seymour, said winch training is a crucial part of the job that prepares the new doctors for the unpredictability of the role.
“No two days are the same here for us at LifeFlight,“ he said.
“The doctors learn emergency checks around the aircraft, winch statics in the hangar and then we go out and put those statics into practice on the field.
“The doctors learn multiple exercises. They learn how to be winched out of the aircraft by themselves, how to be winched out of the aircraft with a rescue crewman or paramedic and learn how to accompany a stretcher into the aircraft.
“They’re going to remote areas across Queensland, and they could be in dense bushland or out to sea off a cruise ship, so it’s important they’re delivered the training they need to perform these roles to a high and safe standard.“
The doctors had their clinical skills pushed to the limit at the Queensland Combined Emergency Services Academy, with realistic simulated scenarios in a ship, ambulance, multi-vehicle collision and house party setting.
The new recruits were also taught how to extract a patient from a road accident by Queensland Fire Department (QFD) personnel.
The LifeFlight Bundaberg-based aeromedical crew helped 298 people in 2024 and completed 440 missions.
LifeFlight came to the aid of 8477 Queenslanders in 2024 -13 per cent higher than the previous year.
The Bundaberg-based LifeFlight helicopter and crew service the Wide Bay-Burnett region and beyond.
The majority of LifeFlight critical care doctors’ work is performed on behalf of Queensland Health, tasked by Retrieval Services Queensland, within Queensland Ambulance Service.
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