Dr. Dinesh
For residents of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, air connectivity is not merely a mode of travel but a crucial medical lifeline. In emergencies requiring advanced treatment unavailable locally, critically ill patients often need urgent transfer to mainland hospitals. For stretcher patients, even brief delays can have serious consequences.
Despite repeated demand, the islands continue to lack a standard and time-bound system for stretcher transfers *on all commercial flights*. Families are often left struggling with approvals, seat-removal arrangements and fare-related uncertainty during critical moments, when every minute can be vital.
Congress Leaders, including Mr. Bhaskar, Chairman of the Campaign Committee, have raised the issue on several occasions and urged the authorities to put in place a practical mechanism for emergency medical evacuation.
The matter has also been pursued at the national level by the island’s lone Member of Parliament, Bishnu Pada Ray. Public reports indicate that he had written to the Prime Minister, the Union Home Minister, the Health Minister and the Ministry of Civil Aviation seeking urgent intervention on healthcare deficiencies and medical evacuation challenges in the islands. Among the specific concerns raised was a request that airlines should neither deny nor delay emergency stretcher patients travelling from Port Blair to mainland referral centres including Chennai, Kolkata and Visakhapatnam, and that a uniform minimum fare mechanism be introduced. However, despite repeated representations, a clear and practical policy is still awaited.
Given the island’s geographic isolation, the matter requires coordinated action from the Civil Aviation Ministry and all airlines operating through Veer Savarkar International Airport. A dedicated system ensuring stretcher transfers at a reasonable minimum fare, supported by trained technical personnel for quick removal and refitting of aircraft seats, would substantially reduce delays. Similar arrangements at Chennai International Airport and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport Kolkata would strengthen the system further.
Medical emergencies cannot wait. In a remote island territory with limited alternatives and uncertain ship schedules, air evacuation remains the only realistic option for many critically ill patients.
A dedicated stretcher transfer policy is therefore not merely an aviation concern but an urgent healthcare necessity for the islands, where timely action can directly save lives.
In an emergency, illness makes no distinction between the rich and the poor. Every island resident, irrespective of financial background, deserves timely access to medical evacuation and advanced treatment. A stretcher transfer policy must therefore be guided by urgency and humanity, ensuring that no patient loses precious time because of delay, uncertainty or inability to afford emergency travel.