Karnataka: Increase in distress calls for air ambulances amid COVID surge

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], May 14 (ANI): As India reels under the second wave of COVID-19 outbreak, there is a spurt in demand for air ambulance services.

The demand for air ambulance service is "crazy," says insiders.

"The demand is crazy. I get around 200 calls in 2-3 hours. It is hard to say no but at the same time we have come to this point of prioritising which we are trained in the UK, called triaging," Dr Shalini Nalwad, co-founder and director of International Critical Care Air Transfer Team (ICATT), told ANI.

Air ambulances have been playing a major role in air lifting critically ill patients to medical hubs like Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru from different places in India, and even from abroad in some cases.

The mayhem in India due to the ravaging surge in coronavirus cases during its second wave has pushed the healthcare system to its limits with shortage of oxygen, beds, and even proper treatment.

"The calls are overwhelming. There are a lot of distress calls as well. People asking that there is no facility here, can you come and take us. It is very heartbreaking for doctors in such times as we are trained to save lives and there is only a limited capacity of how much you can do on an air ambulance," Dr Nalwad said.

"Although we try to do as much as possible, we are working 24x7. The entire team has not had a break since the last 3-4 months. Despite that, by the end of the day we end up thinking that we have not done enough," she added.

India reported 3,43,144 fresh COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, 3,44,776 people recovered from the infection during the same period. (ANI)