Air ambulance drill on November 10 in Madurai

Addressing a press meet, Padma Prakash Gandhiraj, a doctor from Apollo Hospitals, Madurai, said that on Thursday afternoon, between 2 pm to 2.45 pm, training for air ambulance would be given at Velammal Hospital in Madurai. Explaining that paramedics need special training in handling patients in an air ambulance, he said that the conditions like pressure and temperature varies vastly from that of a normal ambulance. “So, special expertise was needed to serve in air ambulance,” he said and added hence, a training session is conducted for them and their expertise would be utilised in case of any disaster. At present only a private carrier is offering air ambulance training and is being offered mainly in metros. However, if training was provided to paramedics in rural areas, it would be more helpful to airlift patients from remote hamlets. A special team of doctors would provide the hands-on training to select paramedics. “It is a first of its kind initiative,” said Padma Prakash. 

Meanwhile, a national conference on emergency medicine has been planned in Madurai for four days from November 10 to 13. The 18th edition of the conference would be organised by the Society for Emergency Medicine, India (SEMI). Participants from 18 countries would take part in 18 workshops during the meet. The event named ‘EMCON 2016’ would also feature a 18km run to create awareness about emergency medicine. The theme of the conference is ‘‘Discover the Difference- Collaborate, Connect and Create Better Emergency Care Systems.’ Narendra Nath Jena, organising committee chairman and a representative of Meenakshi Mission Hospital; K Muralidharan, vice chairman of the organising committee and Uwaraja, doctor of Velammal Hospital, Madurai, were present at the press meet.