3 hours by car or 15 minutes by plane. It takes so much time to deliver a medical team to the most remote region of the Kharkiv region.
Doctors say: often a person's life depends on the time that goes to his transportation to the hospital. State sanitary aviation in Ukraine is - is the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the military. But it is not enough. Its operation is very expensive.
In the state aviation there is even a flying operating theater, but this technique works mainly in the interests of the military. The task of the Kharkov Volunteer Sanaviation is to help civilians living in the region. It is cheaper and faster than the state sanatorium will fly from its base, which in the Kharkov region is not.
So the volunteers decided to correct this defect.
This is Alexander Morozov - he is a private pilot. About 10 years ago, when he was 50, he decided to learn how to fly. I went to the flying club "Korotych", I learned to fly, and then I bought myself a plane. A little later he created an airfield. I rented a piece of land, issued all the necessary documents, equipped everything according to standards and started flying. In my pleasure. So it was until 2014.
"We changed the worldview of many at that time. In the 14th year we sat here round the clock. We slept here. There were such tasks. Then in 15, it was already easier, at 16 we started working in medicine, "says the creator of the airfield Alexander Morozov.
Together with another pilot - a professional pilot Yury Pokusai, they flied together, assisting the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Border Guard Service in protecting our country, evacuated children from dangerous areas, patrolled the borders and roads.
"We carried out and carried out different tasks. To fly - officially in 2014 created a volunteer air force. Already in 2016 created the "Civil Air Patrol", - says Yuri Pokusai.
When the need for military assistance became less obvious, the pilots decided to retrain into civilian sanitation.
It works like this: a call comes to the control room of the Kharkiv central hospital from a remote region of the region, the brigade leaves and goes to the airfield. At the aerodrome, they are transplanted to the aircraft, and the pilots deliver them to the patient. And then, if necessary, or transport the patient on the same route to the hospital, or the doctor on-site provides assistance.
"If there is a need for our departure, then the coordination of our departure takes 5-7 minutes in the telephone mode. The pilot is preparing a plane. The emergency medicine team leaves for the airfield. Average time, how many they arrive 15-20 minutes. This is the time that the pilot needs to prepare the plane, "Yura said..
"There was a case. There was a foreign body, the child swallowed the battery. He had a fistula. This battery lasted three days and now it was necessary to deliver it urgently to the operation, "says the doctor Elena Grishanina.
The cost of each aircraft is about 30-40 thousand dollars. They should be compact, maneuverable, with the possibility of landing on the ground.
A total of six. Pilots 4. All are on duty by turns. The plane is ready for departure every day.
Adapted not only the dropper, but also the runways. Otherwise, say the pilots, you will not say. There are not many of them in the region, therefore, it is necessary to plant airplanes on the then existing agricultural airfields.
"In some areas of the Kharkov region there are landing sites, but their condition is unfit for flying - in the summer they grow with grass, in winter it is necessary to clear from snow. Unfortunately from such trivial problems human life can depend. Our airplanes are small, this is Socata, Cessna, Piper, they do not need much. The strip should be at least 400 meters long, 20 meters wide. This is in all areas. In general, it may even be a plot of land, "- says Yuri.
The landing site should be regularly cleaned from the snow in winter and mowed the grass in summer. But regional officials promised to help with this. As well as with the permission to put planes in the Kharkiv airport and in the territory of the aviation plant, which will reduce the time of delivery of the patient to the hospital.
"There was a case that we could not fly out of Kegicevka, because the weight of the patient was large, and the trees near the runway are high. I had to drive the patient by car, "say the pilots.
Now the divisions of the "Civil Air Patrol" are in several cities of Ukraine. The main base in Kharkov, the rest in Lviv, Odessa and Kiev.
In total during the year of 2017 the volunteer sanatorium carried out 31 sorties: carried 16 patients and 15 times brought doctors for consultation in severe cases.
Source: 057.