The ambulance services have been broadly classified into air ambulance, ground ambulance, and also water ambulance services. Air ambulance contributes the highest revenue in the ambulance service market. The rise of medical tourism in developing countries like India has driven the growth of the air ambulance segment.
What is an Air Ambulance?
An air ambulance is a specially designed helicopter, or an aircraft, equipped with specialized medical equipment including medications, ventilators, ECGs and monitoring units, CPR equipment, and stretchers. This aircraft airlifts and transport injured people or critical patients for medical treatment to the hospitals. Air ambulances are booked when the patient is located either in remote or terrain locations where advanced medical treatment is not available. Air ambulance in Delhi by Medulance is usually staffed with doctors, highly trained paramedics individuals, and first responders. Further, when an air ambulance is actively operating with a patient, Air Traffic Control (ATC) grants special treatment to them. Some air ambulances can be non-medically equipped too and the attendant staff simply transports patients from point A to point B.
State of Air Ambulance in India:
In India, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is the authorizing body when it comes to air ambulance service regulations and provide license and/or accreditation to the air ambulance service providers. Major hospitals have been tying up with airlines companies and the Government to create better and more effective air ambulance services in India.
Demand for Air Ambulance Service in India:
In recent times, there has been a growing demand for air ambulance services in India. With growing awareness about organ donation in the country such as donating the heart of brain-dead patients and transplantation of such organs, the air ambulance has been used on multiple occasions. This rising demand for emergency ambulance services in India is attracting many international companies and various startups are also emerging such as Medulance, to render the air ambulance service in Delhi and in the rest of the country.
Further, with higher demand and use of advanced technologies by the Indian hospitals, medical tourism have seen an upward slope in demand graph. Favorable reimbursement policies and the increasing trend of home health care have fueled the growth of this market.
As per the industry report of India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) on Healthcare sector published in 2017, medical tourism market in India stands at US$ 3.0 billion in size and is expected to reach US$ 6 billion by 2018. During 2013-16, the country’s medical tourism market witnessed a growth at a CAGR of 27 percent. The number of foreign tourists coming to India for medical purposes rose by almost 50 percent to 201,333 in 2016 from 134,344 in 2015.
More on, due to lifestyle, and behavioral changes and rising healthcare awareness in Indian citizens, prime hospital chains such as Apollo, Fortis, and Max, are operating their own air ambulance services, especially in tier I and tier II cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore.
In conclusion, saving time for our friends and family is the first step in an emergency situation. Medulance’s Air Ambulance service in India aims to conquer time and distance in emergencies and saves lives of your loved ones.