Union Minister encourages use of helicopters for emergency medicine
Union Minister of Civil Aviation Rammohan Naidu Kinjarapu on Tuesday announced the establishment of a dedicated Helicopter Directorate under the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to provide single-window regulatory oversight, address helicopter-specific safety and certification issues, and assist operators with procedural requirements.
Naidu was attending the inaugural day of the 7th Helicopter & Small Aircraft Summit along with Lok Sabha MP and Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Muralidhar Mohol in Pune.
Talking about Helicopter Emergency Medical Services, Naidu said globally, helicopter use for medicine stands at 18 per cent but in India, the figure stood at just one per cent. These air ambulances can be used to provide emergency medical services in rural areas that do not have the necessary facilities, he added. He also highlighted the importance of helicopters in organ transport for transplantation.
On June 15, a chopper carrying seven people in Kedarnath crashed, killing everyone on board. Speaking to operators and industry leaders on the issue of safety in the aviation industry on routes like Kedarnath, Naidu said, 'Safety of the pilgrims must remain our top priority—there can be no shortcuts, no room for communication errors and no margin for poor decision-making. We must build a culture of trust, dialogue and discipline which I feel is a shared responsibility between the Centre, the states and the operators.'
The summit saw participation from 20 state governments, industry representatives, International Financial Services Centres Authority (GIFT City) representatives, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and senior officials from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, DGCA, Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Pawan Hans Ltd.
According to information provided by the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) at the conference, proposals for eight water aerodrome sites have been submitted by MADC to AAI and the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
These include the Dhom dam/Wai dam at Wai in Satara district, the Gangapur dam in Nashik, the Khindsi dam in Nagpur, Koradi dam at Mehkar in Buldhana district, Pawna dam at Pawnanagar in Pune district, Pench dam at Parshivani in Nagpur district, Ganpatipule and Ratnagiri in Ratnagiri district.
Soham is a Correspondent with the Indian Express in Pune.
A journalism graduate, he was a fact-checker before joining the Express. Soham currently covers education and is also interested in civic issues, health, human rights, and politics. ... Read More
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