After accidents on Maharashtra highways, injured will now be airlifted! Preparations underway to start air ambulance service from New Year.

Mumbai, (City News Mumbai Anant Nalavade)

After severe road accidents on Maharashtra's major highways, the state government is preparing to launch an air ambulance service to reduce delays in transporting injured persons to hospitals. Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik announced this during a conversation with journalists at the ministry on Tuesday.

The service will primarily prioritize the Samriddhi Highway, the Mumbai‑Pune Expressway, and the Mumbai‑Goa Highway. The government plans to start this service at the beginning of the new year.

Transport Minister Sarnaik said that a standard operating procedure (SOP) will be prepared by 15 November. The plan is to obtain approval from the senior authority committee by the end of November and then commence the tender process.

### Saving the “Golden Hour” after an accident is the biggest challenge

The first hour after a road accident, known in the medical field as the “golden hour”, is extremely critical for treating a severely injured person.

However, due to traffic jams on highways, the distance from the accident site to trauma care centers, and the lack of immediate medical facilities, injured persons may experience delays in receiving timely treatment.

In such severe circumstances, the government plans to develop a system to transport injured persons as quickly as possible to an appropriate hospital via air ambulance.

For this service, work will be done on determining a network of trauma care centers, preparing a panel of service providers, providing financial provisions from the Road Safety Fund, and establishing coordination between the transport, health, and police departments.

In the meeting held at the ministry, Health Minister Prakash Abitkar, Home State Minister Yogesh Kadam, and senior officials from relevant departments were present.

### It’s not just a declaration, effective implementation is also necessary!

To successfully implement the air ambulance service, merely providing helicopters or aircraft will not be sufficient.

After receiving the accident notification, the time taken for the air ambulance to reach the scene, safely transferring the injured person, and admitting them to a hospital equipped with necessary medical facilities will be extremely important.

Additionally, weather conditions, availability of service at night, helicopter landing facilities, trained medical teams, and the cost of the service will also be critical factors.

Therefore, the success of the plan will not depend solely on completing the tender process, but also on the actual response time after an accident, the availability of air ambulances, and the quality of treatment.

### Plan to start service in the new year, final date yet to be decided

The state government has planned to start the air ambulance service at the beginning of the new year. However, the official announcement of the actual implementation and the final date of service commencement has not yet been made.

If this plan is implemented effectively, it could significantly help in providing timely treatment to injured persons in severe accidents on Maharashtra's major highways and save lives.