Aeromedical services in the Philippines

  Aeromedical services in the Philippines.

Jonathan is a IT engineer by profession. He enjoyed sightseeing, bird watching, and visiting different places. He religiously followed a vacation routine with his family and friends in some new, unexplored place, maybe in India or abroad. This time he decided to make it to the Sinulog Santo Nino Festival which is held every year in the third week of January in Cebu city in the Philippines. The family was all excited about the vacation and the excitement was double as this time they would experience a new festival in a foreign land. Jonathan's wife Martha, and their two kids Jane and Jerry were all set to the Philippines. Their family friend Harry heard about the plan and he too showed the enthusiasm to join with his wife, Samantha.

As the festival was on the third Sunday of January, they decided to fly to the city on Friday itself so that they can do some sightseeing and shopping before the festival begins. The air travel distance to the Philippines from India is 4,631 km= 2,878 miles. Thus the travel time by air is roughly around 5.5 to 6 hours. They landed at the Cebu International airport.

 On reaching Cebu city, they went out for lunch and some shopping. They asked a local guide about the festival, who briefed them very heedfully about the festival. He gave them very impeccable details about the festival as to why, when, and how the festival is celebrated. Their excitement to witness the festival increased further because of the detailed story they heard from the guide.

The Sinulog-Santo Niño Festival which is held annually is a cultural and religious festival held in January on the third Sunday in Cebu City, and thousands of tourists visit every year as it is the center of the Santo Niño Catholic celebrations in the Philippines. Santo Ninokan Cebu is a Roman Catholic title of the Child Jesus associated with a religious image of the Christ Child widely venerated as miraculous by Filipino Catholics.

The celebration traditionally lasts for nine days, and on the last day of the festival, a Grand Parade is held, which is known as the Sinulog Grand Parade. The Sinulog Contest is traditionally held in the Cebu City Sports Complex, where most of Cebu's major provincial events are held.

SINULOG is a traditional dance ritual in honor of the miraculous image of the "Santo Nino". The artists perform the dance on the beats of the drums and this formation of dance resembles the current (Sulog) of what was then known as Cebu's Pahina River. Thus, in Cebuano, they say it's Sinulog. More than just the meaning of the word is the significance of the dance.

On Sunday, they attended the festival. The celebration was grand and awesome. They decided to go for site seeing the next day at Mactan resort to enjoy scuba diving.

On their way back from the resort their vehicle met with a lethal accident. Their SUV was crashed with a water tanker. Jonathan and his wife Martha sustained grievous injuries but miraculously the kids had survived with just minor injuries. But the other couple Harry and Samantha were not lucky enough and they succumbed to their injury and were declared dead. The victims died immediately due to severe crash in the road accident  along the Osmena Road in Cebu City at around 10:30 p.m.

The family was swept by a passing water tanker while traveling in an SUV. The crash was so bad that within a fraction of minute the car smashed like a box.

Harry and Samantha immediately died after they were run over by the water tanker. The police arrived at the spot, and the injured were taken to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center. The deceased people were taken to the hospital for further formalities of postmortem. The kids were shattered by the whole incidence but fortunately they were safe. Their parents had sustained multiple fractures. Both had sustained serious head injuries and fractures and abrasions on the different parts of the body. The police took down their details from the kids and the communication numbers back in India.

Aeromedical service in simple term is a healthcare service whereby helicopters and aircraft are used for patient transportation. Aeromedical service proves helpful when a patient requires urgent medical care and time is very crucial for the patient in deciding the fate of a patient(s). Aeromedical services play a vital role in countries having a diverse and challenging geographical condition. Timely provision of medical help to the patient is a critical factor for saving the life of the patient. The police could establish contact with the family back in India. Jonathan's father Lobo, stayed in Mumbai. He was completely shattered upon hearing about the disastrous incidence. Somehow he gathered himself. He contacted one of Jonathan's cousin as to how can things be planned to get the family back. Denise worked in a travel firm and he had some idea about air transportation of patients from one country to another. He did some search on a search engine and found out about Hi-Flying Aeromedical services. The company has its office in Mumbai, so he reached the office directly and briefed their administrative team about the incidence and plans to get the family back safely. Also as they had two deceased members, so how could the things be planned to get them back in Mumbai as Harry's family was in deep shock and trauma.

Hi-Flying Aeromedical service helps air transportation of patient's faster and better . They not only repatriate patient within India but also to and from many countries globally. They have expertise in flying back patients from the past 25 years. The services have just improvised manifold over the past two decades. Over the years air transportation of critically ill or accident prone patients are carried out as a routine process in many countries and people in India too are taking benefits of these services to a large extent. Many patients who are undergoing treatment in one facility but may require transportation to any other health-care center for advanced treatment are being transported on a routine basis daily for better treatment. There may be a case where the inter-hospital shifting of a patient may be required and for transferring a critical patient using the air infrastructure service is both viable and better option in case of emergency. Hi-Flying also plays a pivotal role in flying back the deceased bodies and the mortal remains to their families.

It was planned that an Air Ambulance comprising of three member's team of doctor, paramedic, and nurse should fly along with Mr. Lobo and Jonathan's cousin Denise to Cebu city where the ground ambulances would carry back the patients on a medical stretcher to the Air ambulance. The kids will fly on a commercial flight back with their grandfather, and the dead bodies shall be carried back on the Air Ambulance. Denise will fly back in the Air ambulance along with the patients so that upon reaching Mumbai, they can carry out the procedure of admitting the patients in the hospital, which was finalized by the family.

They reached the destination hospital safely with the assistance of the Hi-Flying medical team. Further medical procedures were initiated. Both Jonathan and Martha had to undergo surgeries. The family remained strong throughout the bad time but thanked God for his kindness. It was a terrible loss for the other family. Yet, both the families are thankful to Hi-Flying services as they made excellent arrangements to get all of them back from a foreign land to the home country.