An emergency is a serious injury or a sudden life-threatening illness/ situation.
Here are a few good examples of emergency situations in which you should call an emergency telephone line immediately.

• Loss of consciousness
• Intolerable and uncontrollable pain
• Severe shortness of breath
• Uncontrollable bleeding
• Poisoning (Please note: if possible, call and ask for immediate home-treatment advice, then bring poisoning agent with you to the doctor)
• A major injury, such as a head injury.

Transport staff or administrative Assistant receives an emergency call and takes down the following information using the ambulance call out sheet guideline:

• Patient’s name and/or number of patients
• Contact person, telephone number – read the contact number back to the caller to ensure that you have the correct details and promise to call them back.
• Specific Condition /injury / Problem.
• Location - ensure clear details on the location/ directions

(If necessary outline a map at the back of the call sheet)

If the patient is in a hospital or health unit, the medical person in charge of the patient is encouraged to talk with our medical officer, to ascertain fitness of the client to travel / fly. This involves interaction with IMG Medical doctor to probe; possible diagnosis, vital signs and symptoms, treatment given and what interventions required/ reasons for referral.

If the patient is at the site of an accident or at home, our medical officer on duty advises on what First Aid intervention to be carried out, before the ambulance gets there.

Although International Hospital Kampala (IHK/ IAA) does not own any Aircrafts, it has affiliate Airline and relief agencies with which Medical Emergency Air evacuations are carried out. These include;

• Mission Aviation fellowship (MAF-Uganda)
• Amref Flying Doctor Service-Nairobi
• Everret Aviation
• Kampala Aero and Flight Training Club (KAFTC) and
• Other local Airline companies.

The availability of the Aircraft largely depends upon the following considerations;

The procedure for Air Evacuation is as above-for ground ambulance. However, there are crucial points to note:

- Time of day is very important as no Airdrome in Uganda has lights to facilitate night landing and/or takeoff for fixed wing planes, except at Entebbe International Airport.
If the patient is within Uganda and they are to be brought to IHK or any other hospital, then smaller aircrafts can be used to evacuate them, provided it’s within the IATA and /or CAA legally acceptable flying time.

International Hospital Kampala uses KAFTC / Everett Aviation for the provision of helicopter for medical emergencies that would require stable but quicker means of transport, most especially for shorter distances. A helipad was constructed at the hospital premises for helicopter landing.

Facts about Helicopter evacuations are;

• All calls requesting for a helicopter go through our Emergency lines at IHK.

The Transport staff contacts the pilot to establish the following, before a confirmation is given to the client, namely;

• The availability of Aircraft
• Type of aircraft to be used (depending on the number of casualties involved and equipment to be used)
• Duration of flight each way and reconfirm costs.

The caller is then provided with a comprehensive quotation for the evacuation. Ensuring that the client has understood the terms and conditions of service.

If the patient is to fly within the East African countries, this calls for a bigger plane and takeoff is strictly through Entebbe International Airport.
Likewise, when the patient is to fly to either Europe or South Africa and beyond, Ambulance Operations Manager contacts international companies like; International SOS -South Africa or AMREF flying doctor service-Kenya, on behalf of the client.

Key words
MedEvac: Medical Evacuation
CAA: Civil Aviation Authority
IATA: International Air Transport Association