The... has just concluded Emergency medical transport, from Bari Palese Airport to Rome Ciampino Airport, in favour of a 13-month-old baby girl carried out with a C-130 of the 46th Air Brigade in Pisa. This is the second air transport from Puglia within a few days.
It C-130, a unique aircraft of the Air Force capable of embarking up to two ambulances thanks to its particular dimensions and equipment, departed from Pisa around 13:30 and reached the Apulian airport after about an hour. Here, supported by the personnel of the “Aircraft Maintenance”of the Headquarters of the Air Force Schools Command / 3rd Air Region of Bari Palese, waited for the ambulance, on which the child was, and then boarded the ambulance itself, along with a medical car and a medical team nine operators who provided specific assistance to the little girl during the flight. The young patient, in fact, imminent danger to life, needed to travel while remaining in the medical vehicle, and thus receive specialist support even during the air “run”; hence the request made to the Air Force for them to arrange the special transport. The medical equipment embarked and the medical team units, all made available by the’Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital in Rome, they had reached Bari in the morning, implementing all the necessary and preparatory medical provisions for the subsequent air transport of the little one.
Previously admitted to the’Giovanni XXIII Children's Hospital in Bari, the little girl thus arrived at the military airport of Rome Ciampino shortly before 7:00 PM. From here she was able to continue her journey by ambulance, quickly reaching the’Roman hospital to receive the healthcare provided.
The medical flight was requested by Prefecture of Bari and authorised by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, before being promptly arranged and coordinated by High-Level Situation Room of the Air Force Command – 1a Air Region. This last one, the Air Force Operations Room, has among its tasks that of activating and managing urgent medical transport, ordering the take-off of aircraft that the Armed Force keeps ready, 24 hours a day, in various bases, for this type of necessity.
Today's mission is in addition to the one carried out, also on the Bari-Rome route, last Monday 27 January in favour of a child just over a year old, transported by C-27J aircraft and previously hospitalised at the same Apulian hospital.
Missions of this type require the utmost promptness, ensured by meticulous organisation and well-honed procedures. Hundreds of flight hours are carried out each year by Air Force aircraft for urgent medical transports, both for people in mortal danger and for teams and/or organs, for humanitarian flights or for search and rescue missions. Crews of the 31st Wing of Ciampino, of 15th Air Wing of Cervia and of SAR centresSearch and Rescue) employees, of the 46th Air Brigade of Pisa and 14th Practice Wing of Pratica di Mare They are ready 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, to take off at very short notice, with aircraft and personnel capable of operating even in complex weather conditions, for any destination in Italy and abroad.