Hadassah launches today a new air evacuation service for emergency patients from the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The project will operate in cooperation with ” iMER”, Hadassah’s medical tourism agent and Hadassah’s Emergency Medicine Department, and with “Orange Aviation”, that specializes in executive air transportation. The goal of the new venture is widening the spectrum of services for medical tourists and increasing revenues to the hospital.
The project involves Hadassah and iMER leasing a designated airplane that has been outfitted with facilities, flight staff trained in transporting patients and medical staff expert in emergency care, providing a new standard of availability (7 days a week, 24 hours a day, within 4 hours of a request!)
Patients from other countries who require emergency evacuation to Hadassah, and Israeli citizens situated abroad who need immediate transport will be able to be moved inside a minimal timeframe. The service will be available for patients from Arab states, the Balkans, and Eastern Europe.
Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yossef, General Manager of Hadassah said: “The air ambulance project improves our ability to offer fast, efficient service to patients needing emergency treatment, and increases Hadassah’s attractiveness to countries abroad. Widening our services will augment our earnings and enable us to improve the quality of medicine to the citizens of Israel”
Prof. David Linton, Manager of Intensive care unit, and a pilot himself, added: "...We have encountered many cases in the past when we could not accommodate patients in extreme need, simply because we had no access to air transportation. The project we launch today will ensure not only that patients can be transported to Hadassah, but also that Hadassah experts can travel on the air ambulance in order to attend the patients abroad. For me, as an expert in emergency medicine, this is a dream come true.”