Croatian air ambulance service soon to be established

Croatian Minister of Health Vili Beroš announced on 3 October that the country is ‘within reach of the establishment of an emergency helicopter medical service’.

He landed in one of the four helicopters purchased for the proposed air ambulance service, which has been long-awaited. However, this test flight – from the Velika Gorica Aviation Technical Center to the Dubrava heliport in Zagreb – marked the service’s imminent beginning, according to Croatian newspaper 24sata.

The emergency medical service will have bases in four locations: Zagreb, Osijek, Rijeka and Split.

Two flexible Airbus EC135s are for urban and rural areas – Zagreb and Osijek – and two Airbus H145 helicopters will be used by the coastal bases, Rijeka and Split. The EC135s are expected to start flying within the next six months, while the H145s are expected to fly within the next nine months, in time for the tourist season.

“Helicopters are specially designed for the emergency medical service; they are not classic helicopters adapted to this service, but the other way around,” explained Beroš. “It was not engineers but medical experts who designed them. This is the only helicopter that allows the doctor to sit at the head of the patient and intubate them. We thought about all the details, including the difference between urban and rural and the coastal area, that is, our islands.”

Eli Friulia will take care of the helicopters and servicing, as well as pilots – who will provide the contracted 1,500 flight hours per year – while the Ministry of Health provides medical staff.