The RFDS said it is very humbled by the amount of interest from doctors, nurses and pilots to join or return to the Service to offer support during the pandemic.

Joe Saad, Melbourne-based Tiger Air Boeing 737 first officer, is one of 33 others who returned to the RFDS in Western Australia, enduring two weeks of quarantine before he could fly.

“I’m grateful to have been called up and offered my previous position to help out during these tough times,” Saad said. “The first two weeks in quarantine I thought I was going to have plenty of time to watch Netflix, but I was really wrong about that.

“As part of our induction, we were kept very busy with WebEx video conferences every morning and plenty of exams and questionnaires to get through the day, so we’re prepared to transfer patients in different circumstances.”

After the two weeks of isolation, Joe was trained on infection controls and procedures and will join the crew in a week’s time.

“From what I’ve seen so far, I think Western Australia is leading a lot of the states in our response where patients, pilots and medical crews are all looked after,” he said. “The Personal Protective Equipment training is intense and controlled. It gets very hot wearing overalls, a face mask and two sets of gloves, and once we’ve done a Covid-19 transfer, we decontaminate our boots by stepping into a bucket of water and bleach.”