More medics take to the skies

DASEN THATHIAH

PRIVATE ambulance service provider ER24 has entered into a partnership with Discovery Health in a bid to reach more people. ER24 chief executive Andrew Boden said there was a critical shortage of medicopters in the country, with only six available nationally.

"On a daily basis there are numerous requests for air evacuations and we can only assist in a small percentage of these cases because of limited resources," he said.

Three medicopters and three medicopter ground support vehicles will join the ER24 emergency fleet.Boden added that each medicopter would have a doctor and an advanced life support trained paramedic on board, who could deal with acute emergencies such as advanced airway and circulatory management and obstetric and paediatric emergencies.

ER24's significant membership base has inherited more than two million Discovery Health members as a result of the merger.Neville Koopowitz, Discovery Health's chief executive, said he was extremely proud of the partnership."We believe Discovery Health's investment will go a long way in helping to ease the immense pressure on over-burdened emergency services.

It will specifically boost ER24's nationwide footprint for South Africans in the main city centres of Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg," he said.

Published in the Daily News on July 23 2009-07-23