Aeromedical operations

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Aeromedical
operations

When our state of the art ICU air ambulances take to the skies, we’re on our way to save lives. Our specialised air ambulances fly across South Africa, the African continent, surrounding islands, and internationally to provide specialised emergency medical services and do evacuations.

What do our aeromedical operations offer?

Netcare 911 operates a 24/7 helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) in South Africa. Based in
Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, our helicopters can be dispatched at all times to deal
with life threatening emergencies. We make use of state of the art helicopters – selected for their
outstanding speed and flight range – to bring critical skills and equipment to patients. Our service is also
used to expedite inter-facility transfers of critically ill, injured or high risk patients.

Netcare 911 subscribes to an internationally accepted set of flight authorisation criteria to determine
when the use of a helicopter is warranted, and which patients will benefit the most from being airlifted.

Enabling technology

Netcare 911 leads the way in technological development for emergency call taking and dispatching of resources in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.

The aeromedical division has dedicated stations in the EOC, and acts as a central point for all emergency services involving flight operations.

Flight coordination

Our aeromedical operations make use of trained flight coordinators to enable an end-to-end solution for critically injured or ill patients within South Africa, Africa and islands surrounding the continent, and internationally, and to facilitate inter-facility transfers within South Africa, and from other countries to South Africa.

Why choose netcare 911 aeromedical operations?

Life saving support

We take our mandate from global research which demonstrates that the appropriate deployment of helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) has a profound impact on patient outcomes. As such, we’ve embraced this as a valuable instrument in saving lives.

  • Every aeromedical mission is managed on its own merits, with meticulous scrutiny and medical oversight.

  • We cater for both short and long range flights, and our service can be mobilised within 90 minutes of flight authorisation for fixed wing aircraft and five minutes for helicopters.

  • All aeromedical pilots are accredited by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA).

  • All air ambulances are staffed by emergency medicine trained doctors, registered nurses and paramedics.

  • Quality assurance reviews are conducted by objective and independent specialist consultants.

Medical Scheme EMS Medical Scheme EMS

Netcare 911’s helicopter
emergency medical
service (HEMS)

All our helicopter air ambulances are efficiently coordinated through a single source, end-to-end dedicated flight operations centre based within our national EOC in Sunninghill, Gauteng.

Netcare 911’s jet air
ambulance service

Our jet air ambulances operate throughout Africa, the islands surrounding the continent, as well as internationally — catering for both short and long range flights.

Team synergy key to success of Sudan mission

On her 100th mission, Dr Nadia Swart, a flight doctor in our fixed wing division, traversed the airspace of six countries, covering around 4 660km to save the life of a patient in Khartoum suffering from an acute bowel obstruction. Dr Swart ascribes the success of these missions to the incredible synergy between the flight team of doctor, paramedic and pilots.

Mac Netcare

Interested in a career
at Netcare 911?

Netcare 911 follows a transparent recruitment process to attract the best people. We are a values driven organisation that focuses on service leadership, staff engagement and developing our people. Our company culture is based on high performance and an empowering approach which encourages innovation and recognises employee achievements.

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