India slaps six extra permissions to operate an air ambulance amid COVID-19 crisis

• The Ministry on April 15 said medical evacuation flights will need “explicit permission of the government” to operate.
  
• Normally, a patient would require only a hospital discharge summary and clearance from aviation regulation.
  
• However, now with the lockdown in place, the patient requires special permission from the state governments too.
  
• There are at least 6 permissions that patients would need to get airlifted through an air ambulance.
  

The Indian government has reportedly restricted medical evacuation facilities including air ambulances after it extended the coronavirus lockdown till May 3, said Bloomberg citing sources. Medical flights will be allowed only if a patient has exhausted all local options for treatment.

Operators will require special permission for air ambulances. Also, these permissions will be given only to patients in serious condition. These flights will also be allowed only if the state government asks for it.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation suspended all domestic and international flights on March 23. However, it permitted medical evacuation flights by charter operation. On April 15, the Ministry said that these too will need “explicit permission of the government” to operate.

There has been a huge demand for air ambulances after domestic flights were regulated.

“During normal times, all that was needed to operate a medical flight was a hospital discharge summary and clearance from the aviation regulator. Now, we need permission from the collector or district magistrates of both arrival and departure cities letters from the doctor and hospital giving the patient’s details,” Rahul Mucchal, founder, Accretion Aviation told Times of India.

Apart from this, they also need an NOC from the state health department, for both origin and destination states, and a medical certificate for the patient’s attendants stating they are not COVID-19 positive and neither has come in contact with any COVID-positive person in the last 15 days.

A few airports also deployed their own doctor to determine whether to accept the patient or not. With all restrictions in place, it will be difficult for Indians to receive cancer and the heart-disease treatments in another city.

See also: The most congested cities in India low lie vacant midst the nationwide lockdown