Last update - 00:00 01/07/2007
MDA to launch aerial evacaution service for car accident victims
By Zohar Blumkrantz and Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondents
Magen David Adom (MDA) announced on Sunday it will make available an aerial evacuation service for motorists injured in car accidents starting August.
The joint venture between the ambulance service and Lahak plane company will have three helicopters bearing sophisticated equipment on stand-by 24-hours a day.
MDA have been pushing for an air-borne unit for a number of years, but have been hindered by the high costs estimated at millions of shekels a year.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies-member says the service is necessary in order to evacuate injured people in remote areas as fast as possible.
"Evacuating an injured person south of Dimona, for example, is not easy. Also, the Golan Heights and other northern areas are about an hour and forty minutes drive from large medical establishments like Haifa's Rambam Medical Center," former MDA head Eli Bin told Haaretz.