Heli-Care For Hilly Regions: Union Minister Proposes Helicopter Clinics For Patients In Rural And Remote Areas 

Union Minister Jitendra Singh has proposed to set up “Heli-Clinics” or helicopter clinics in rural areas that will help in the delivery of specialised medical care in the remote corners of the country, as per a Press Information Bureau release.

Elaborating on the idea, a renowned diabetologist himself, Mr Singh said, “one super-specialist doctor like cardiologist or diabetologist or Nephrologist or gastroenterologist, etc. can … set up a helicopter Out Patient Department (OPD) along with the requisite para-medical staff and medicines. On the way back, he said, the same helicopter can also carry one or two needy patients to the town or city for hospitalisation.”

He stated that such Heli-Clinics would prove to be profitable for the private hospitals too. Since the hospital space in Indian cities has become saturated, he suggested private-sector doctors turn to rural and remote areas from the point of view of profitable private practice.

While emphasising on the critical role played by public hospitals in bringing affordable healthcare to millions of Indians, he added, “private sector is gradually assuming a big role and could work in synergy with the public sector”.

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