Rega reports quieter Christmas period

Rega credited ‘gloomy and mild winter weather’ for the reduced number of call-outs, but added that serious or acute diseases such as strokes and cardiovascular disease, as well as winter sports accidents, were the most common causes of helicopter missions.

The operator also continued to offer transfer flights between hospitals during the period, with Rega’s Lausanne crew being ‘particularly in demand’ for the service during the period. Rega said that it transferred patients to university hospitals four times between 24 and 26 December.

Rega also aided in the repatriation of multiple patients from other countries during the period. On 24 December, a Rega air ambulance jet returned from Egypt with a patient on board, with another landing in Zurich on Christmas Day to collect a patient who was seriously injured in Mexico. On the 26 December, planes took off for Jamaica and Egypt to repatriate two more patients.

Two ‘combined flights’ – those with more than one patient – were also conducted on Christmas Day: One collected two patients from Spain and Portugal, while the other flew three patients from the Canary Islands. A Rega flight doctor also departed for Malaysia on 26 December, where he accompanied a patient on a commercial flight back to Zurich.

Rega came to the rescue of over 12,000 people for the first time in 2021.