Two people awaiting transplants and two children in imminent danger of losing their lives were transported by Air Force aircraft. The first request reached the Air Force General Staff’s Situation Room late yesterday evening, Thursday 12 December, from the Prefecture of Bari, which, in coordination with the Prime Minister’s Office, requested the urgent transport of a 56-year-old man awaiting a liver and kidney transplant at the Policlinico di Modena. An Airbus A319J from the 31st Wing at Ciampino reached the Apulian regional capital at around 10.00 pm and, a few minutes later, was back in the air heading for Bologna, from where the patient was then transferred by road to the transplant centre in Modena. Meanwhile, the Prefecture of Naples had made a similar request for urgent medical transport for a 64-year-old woman awaiting a kidney transplant at the S. Bortolo Hospital in Vicenza. The same Airbus 319 then took off from Bologna for Naples Capodichino, from where it departed again at 1.30 am for Venice Tessera. At 2.40 am, having completed this final mission, the aircraft and its crew returned to Ciampino military airbase, the home base of their unit. The third medical evacuation took place at the same time from Sardinia, where it was necessary to transfer a baby just three days old who was in imminent danger of dying. Given the infant’s particularly critical condition, the Prefecture of Sassari requested the Flight Office of the Prime Minister’s Office to arrange for the urgent deployment of an aircraft capable of transporting the patient to Rome directly on board an ambulance equipped to keep the baby constantly connected to respiratory support and vital signs monitoring equipment. A C-130J from the 46th Air Brigade in Pisa, which was at that moment on a night-time training flight, was therefore diverted by the Air Force General Staff Situation Room to meet this new requirement. Shortly after midnight, the military aircraft had already landed at Olbia Airport to take on board the ambulance carrying the child and the medical team. At two o’clock in the morning, the aircraft landed at Ciampino, from where the child was subsequently transferred by road to the Bambino Gesù Paediatric Hospital in Rome. A similar request for emergency medical transport, this time for a three-month-old baby, was received this morning from the Prefecture of Cagliari. A Falcon 900 from the 31st Wing, which took off from Cagliari Elmas shortly after 12.00, has just landed at Ciampino Airport, where an ambulance was already waiting to transport the infant to the Bambino Gesù Hospital in Rome. The Italian Air Force, at the request of the relevant state authorities, provides a 24-hour-a-day, 365 days a year, emergency air medical transport for citizens in imminent danger of death, those with severe trauma and organs for transplantation, as well as people in other high-risk situations. This service is provided using aircraft from the 31st Wing at Ciampino and the 46th Air Brigade in Pisa, as well as helicopters from the 15th Wing in Cervia.
