A seven-year-old child, in imminent danger of life, travelled on board an Air Force aircraft in an ambulance, assisted by a team from “Bambino Gesù” hospital: they will be treated thanks to a cooperation program between the Italian and Greek National Transplant Centres.
The [event] concluded at 19:14 on Tuesday 21 February 2023 Emergency medical transport for a seven-year-old child from Athens to Ciampino, carried out with a C130J aircraft of the Italian Air Force.
The young patient, of Greek nationality, in imminent danger to life for a very serious heart condition, he needed to be urgently transferred to’“Bambino Gesù” Paediatric Hospital” in Rome. For the type of transport, it was necessary, specifically, to use a C-130J of the 46th Air Brigade of Pisa, aircraft suitable for boarding the ambulance in which the child travelled, monitored and assisted in extracorporeal circulation (ECMO) from a medical team composed of nurses, resuscitators and cardiac surgeons.
It life jacket it was activated, at the request of the’Greek Embassy in Rome, from Air and Space Operations Command (COA) of the Italian Air Force, which immediately involved the 46th Air Brigade of Pisa, one of the Departments that carries out the service of Operational readiness for this kind of mission. The child will be cared for thanks to a cooperation programme between the National Transplant Centre and the corresponding Greek competent authority, the’Hellenic Transplant OrganisationAccording to the agreement, which has been in effect since 2005, the most urgent Greek patients, particularly paediatric ones, can be transplanted in our country, while unused organs from donors in Greece can be allocated to Italian patients awaiting transplantation.
With all necessary procedures carried out by the military crew, the aircraft, having taken off from Pisa airport, initially headed to Ciampino From where it then took off for Athens, around 11 am this morning. Here the child, on board the ambulance, was immediately embarked on the aircraft for urgent transport. After landing at Ciampino Airport, which occurred shortly after 7 pm, the ambulance headed to the “Bambino Gesù” Paediatric Hospital in Rome for subsequent admission pending transplant.
The Italian Air Force's flight units are available to the public 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with aircraft and crews capable of operating even in complex weather conditions, to ensure the urgent transport not only of people in imminent danger of death, but also of organs, medical teams or ambulances.
Hundreds of flight hours are carried out each year for this type of intervention by the aircraft of the 31st Wing of Ciampino, of 14th Practice Wing of Pratica di Mare, of 46th Air Brigade in Pisa from the helicopters of the 15th Air Wing of Cervia.
