ER24’s Discovery Medicopter has been flying high this year. With it’s launch in June last year, both the Cape Town and Johannesburg air ambulance Medicopters have been going from strength to strength. The Medicopter in each region are active for at least two calls a day, ranging from inter hospital transfers to what we call primary calls, such as car accidents.
The Medicopter will transport a patient from hospital to hospital when they are critically ill and are unable to be transported by road ambulance due to their illness. A one year old baby was transported from a hospital in Pretoria in the Medicopter to a hospital in Johannesburg last Thursday morning, as he was critically ill and needed advanced care from a specialist who was situated in Johannesburg.
Patients that have been involved in any type of trauma accident, and have sustained serious injuries, or are some distance away from the nearest hospital, need immediate specialised treatment. The Medicopter makes it easier for patients to receive more prompt treatment for their injuries at specialised facilities, where any delay might be fatal. A woman was airlifted on Monday evening after a serious accident in Worcester. She was entrapped in the vehicle, and the nearest hospital would be quite a distance by road ambulance. She had sustained critical injuries, but due to the prompt activation of the Medicopter, she was handed over to an appropriate medical facility in a stable condition.
We look forward to new and exciting ventures from our Medicopter in the future.
Vanessa Jackson
Medicopter Ground Support Unit
Johannesburg & Northern Region
ER24 EMS
