Bell Helicopter, in collaboration with Shaanxi Helicopter (SHC) and Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital, has successfully completed an air medical services (AMS) training exercise in China. This exercise is an initial step toward developing air medical capability for the implementation programme for a joint pilot of aviation medical rescue launched earlier this year by the National Health Commission of China and the Civil Aviation Authority of China.

“Together with SHC, we are excited to be leading the development of an air medical services network in China,” says Bell managing director for north Asia Jacinto Monge. “During the two week event, expertise on best practices was shared through academic seminars and practical training using real-life simulations.”

With the support from US air medical service company Med-Trans Corporation, more than 50 people from Shaanxi Helicopter and the People's Hospital participated in the exercise which covered aviation safety practices and culture, functions and responsibilities for medical transport, flight planning and decision making, crew resource management and flight physiology. In addition, an introduction to the cross-functional coordination among emergency response, medical care, dispatch and aviation was provided to create a safe and effective air medical network solution for China.

Research from The Association of Air Medical Services and Singapore-based Ascend has shown that air medical services can significantly reduce the mortality rate of patients and improve the outcome of treatment. At present, there are more than 1,200 civilian air medical helicopters serving 320 million people in the US; China currently has less than 100 civilian air medical helicopters serving 1.4 billion people. China's central government plans to build a modern healthcare system which will include an extensive air medical services network.