Leading from the Front: ICATT Air Ambulance in Conflict Zones.

A milestone in India’s public administration history. ICATT Air Ambulance Service, worked closely with our Armed Forces in battle zones, providing the first government-funded HEMS operations, covering the Elections at Chhattisgarh.

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The proudest 10 days of action for Team ICATT ICATT Air Ambulance Service saw both Founder Directors, Dr. Rahul Singh Sardar and Dr. Shalini Nalwad Dr Shalini Nalwad , along with Chief of Operations Satish Munoli Satish Munoli and the medical teams, leading from the front at Ground Zero in Jagdalpur. Disregarding their own safety, they actively participated in the rescue operations.

Creating a War Room at the Jagdalpur Air base. We converted the First Aid room of that airport into a Stabilisation ICU. We moved 3 sets of ICU Equipment along with 5 Medical teams (Flying Doctor and Paramedic combination). The Helicopter and pilot were kept operationally ready and on Standby, the Air Ambulance plane was kept operationally ready and on standby. We were airborne withing 15 minutes of receiving calls.?

Our Heli-ambulance with our medical team and the BSF Helicopter’s role was to land at District Helipads as well as deep temporary helipads as close proximity as safely possible to evacuate injured personnel to be airlifted to Jagdalpur. There we would further stabilise them and fly them out by our Air Ambulance aircraft as well as our Heli-ambulance to Raipur as well as to Delhi depending on criticality. The battlefield injuries that we were facing were AK 47 gunshot wounds, IED blasts, Mine blasts, etc causing debilitating and life-threatening injuries.?

Gratitude is extended to the Election Commission office of the State, under the leadership of Smt. Reena Babasaheb Kangale IAS, Chief Electoral Officer of Chhattisgarh, for the decision to appoint a professional Air Ambulance Service during the elections.

Proving the concept of HEMS, found to be highly effective in saving soldiers sustaining grievous injuries, India is poised for HEMS implementation on National Highways, where a significant number of fatalities occur. If we can be this effective on a battlefield, we can do wonders for the trauma victims on the National highways.

Collaborating closely with BSF and CRPF personnel, we witnessed firsthand, multiple Exchange of fire incidents, IEDs, and mine blasts. The injured were evacuated by BSF and our helicopters from the deep jungles and hot battle zones of Sukuma, Bijapur, Dantewada, and Narayanpur districts to Jagdalpur and Raipur for further stabilization. From there, we transported them to higher centers in Delhi. This combination of Heli-ambulance and Fixed wing Air Ambulance, was the perfect combination for the challenges and the tasks.