JSC National Air Ambulance Service (NCCA) is a single operator of aerial work being created to provide emergency emergency medical care throughout Russia. The project to create the NCCA was initiated by Rostec State Corporation in 2017. In January 2018, the initiative was supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the end of last year, in accordance with the order of the Government of the Russian Federation, NCCA was defined as a single provider of sanitation services in the regions of the country.

So, the NCCA received 4 Ansat helicopters and 4 Mi-8 helicopters in medical configuration and special colouring. Until the end of 2020, Rostec will deliver 104 Ansata and 46 Mi-8 to the NCCA. These helicopters are a real flying ambulance. The machines are fully equipped with modern equipment for diagnostics and medical care during the flight, including a special module with life support systems for transporting newborns.

Helicopters will perform air medical service’s tasks in St. Petersburg, Amur, Leningrad, Moscow, Tver, Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Magadan, Sverdlovsk regions and Khabarovsk Krai. In the framework of the ceremony of transferring new helicopters, the Minister of Health of the Russian Federation Veronika Skvortsova presented certificates of accession to representatives of the subjects of the Russian Federation to the unified system of air medical service evacuation in Russia within the framework of the national project Health. In addition, as part of the event, a meeting was held on the development of air medical services, which was attended by the heads of several regions of the Russian Federation.

“The development of air medical services, as well as the entire ambulance system as a whole, is the most important priority of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. Effective medicine of the XXI century is unthinkable without air ambulance. Medical helicopters and airplanes are not only an opportunity to provide emergency assistance in remote and hard-to-reach areas, but also an important part of the ambulance system in large cities, with their heavy traffic and traffic jams. Already today, air ambulance works in 45 regions of the Russian Federation, the immediate goal is to make air ambulance available to every citizen of the country, ”- said the Minister of Health of the Russian Federation Veronika Skvortsova.

In 2019, 49 regions will be involved in the work of the NCCA. Next year their number will be 70, and a year later the whole of Russia will join this project. The development of air ambulance is a prerequisite for the work of the health care system, especially for our country, with its varied climatic conditions and the characteristics of human settlement. It is important both for remote areas and for megacities. Over time, all existing services for sanitary and aviation patient evacuation will be built into the overall structure of the NCCA, providing a single range of services for the population, both in cost and quality and range of services.

NCCA plans to carry out more than 15.5 thousand evacuations per year with a subsequent increase in the volume of services. By the end of 2021, the created fleet of NCCA aircraft will provide the opportunity to fly under sanitary assignments throughout the country. This will help to make high-tech medical care more accessible and will significantly increase the number of saved lives, thanks to emergency actions of air medical service.

“In May 2018, the President of the Russian Federation was instructed to ensure the diversification of production enterprises of the military-industrial complex. The implementation of this complex project will allow to load the production capacity of enterprises of the aviation industry until 2020 with civilian products of great social significance. Large-scale deliveries of helicopters in the framework of the national project “Healthcare” contribute to a significant renewal of the fleet of aircraft involved in the operation of air ambulance in the regions, ”- said Denis Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.

The project to create a single operator of air medical service provides for the creation of 130 aircraft-based points, a network of mobile fuel-filling complexes, helicopter pads in the territories of more than 1.5 thousand health facilities. For the uninterrupted operation of the system, the activity of air ambulance services will be synchronised with the emergency call systems of the uniform number "112" in the regions of Russia and the Unified State Information System for Health.

The single number 112 or 03 will be associated with a single operator, who will decide how to respond to the call - with the help of a ground or air component. For this, over the past 2 years, more than 2 thousand medical teams have been formed and trained throughout the country. Each helicopter is equipped with a brigade of at least two people - a resuscitator and a medical assistant / anaesthesiologist. If necessary, additional specialists may also be members of the brigade. The cost of work of brigades is paid from the OMI fund, and additional resources for payment for work of brigades are made from the budgets of the subjects of the Russian Federation.

As for the payment of aviation technical services, it is going be organised from subsidies that go to the regions from the federal budget as part of the state program of health development. “Rostec enterprises produce modern aviation equipment and medical equipment, provide related services, have extensive experience in building digital and ground infrastructure - in short, they have all the competencies for the integrated implementation of such a large-scale project. The creation of the NCCA is designed to improve the quality of life of people on the ground, to introduce new standards of work in the field of sanitation. The project also contributes to the diversification of defence enterprises and the growth of civilian production. The planned volume of investments in the renewal of the sanatorium park will be about 40 billion rubles, ”- says Sergey Chemezov, General Director of Rostec State Corporation.

The federal project for the development of air ambulance is being implemented by the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia under the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation. Rostec has been an active participant in the project since 2016. At the moment, the holding company “Helicopters of Russia” has delivered 60 machines with a medical module to the regions of the Russian Federation, which have already made more than 12 thousand sorties and transported over 17.5 thousand patients, including about 3 thousand children. Only in 2018, the Russian sanatorium made 5,500 sorties, thanks to its actions, 7,500 people received timely assistance, which is 75% more than in 2017. At the moment, the service has already started to work in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Leningrad, Sverdlovsk, Novgorod regions and the Republic of Karelia.