Air ambulances: Speed matters

[Photo provided to China Daily]

Eyeing the huge potential of air emergency services, the hospital, along with 13 other large hospitals nationwide, initiated the China Air Emergency Hospital Alliance, which is "the largest domestic alliance in the air ambulance service industry", according to Qian Siwei, head of China Air Medical Co, a major domestic provider in the field, on Sunday.

Together with the 14 large provincial hospitals, another 50 medical facilities at the city and county level in Zhejiang have joined in, improving the network in the eastern coastal province, Wang said.

Currently, 11 helicopters are part of the newly formed emergency air medical services network, able to transfer patients within a radius of 300 kilometers. A jet is also standing by, which can cover a longer distance, Qian said.

The new network covers eight provinces in eastern Zhejiang and Jiangsu, northwestern Shaanxi and Gansu, southwestern Yunnan, central Hunan and southern Hainan and Guangdong provinces, Qian said, adding that the network could also cover some islands in the South China Sea.

The helicopter can cruise at up to 300 kilometers per hour, which means a patient in Hangzhou could be reached within 7 minutes. It's also easy to land a helicopter in small flat spaces such as community squares. A helicopter can even hover when picking up a patient.

An air ambulance service doesn't come cheap. It costs as much as 30,000 yuan ($4,500) per hour, Qian said. But several insurance plans with premiums ranging from 399 yuan to 1,399 yuan, can help a patient defray the cost, he added.