A helicopter, currently located at Changping County, will mark the beginning of the air medical service in the Chinese capital after it is put into use very soon, sources said.
The 10 million yuan helicopter, imported from France, will be used to transport patients, who live in an area within 600 kilometers from the third ring road of Beijing, to hospitals, according to Tuesday's Beijing Morning Post.
The helicopter, the first used to provide medical service in the country, can transport a stretcher, a doctor and a nurse, and one patient per journey.
Sources said that whenever the helicopter is needed, the Beijing Emergency Medical Center will immediately send an ambulance to a designated spot to receive the patient transported by the helicopter and then send the patient to a nearby hospital.
According to the sources, the helicopter is ready to be used, but for the time being medical workers can only use portable medical equipment to treat the patient on the helicopter.
Another helicopter, to be imported next year, will be equipped with more emergency medical instruments such as an electrocardiogram instrument, a cardiac pacemaker and a respirator.
Sources said that the helicopter will first be used to serve the 21st Universiade, to open in Beijing Wednesday, and they predicted that by 2008, the center will have eight to 10 helicopters providing emergency medical services.
(Xinhua News Agency 08/21/2001)
