While finding donors is a huge challenge by itself, the high cost of transporting organs has been a headache for those waiting organ transplants in India. To bring relief to these patients, the Maharashtra state government has recently signed an MoU with one of the city’s leading aviation services. The service is expected to launch in August and will be transporting organs using air ambulances.
High Cost of Transporting Organs in India has Horrible Consequences
Although it’s possible to transport organs for transplant by road, this is only viable in case the distance between centers is short. Since freshly-stored organs have to reach the intended recipients within a six-hour period, they sometimes have to be transported by air over long distances. Currently, this can be done by a chartered aircraft, which costs roughly 9,000 USD for an hour of flying time.
These exorbitant fees have resulted in the deaths of many patients who were in need of new organs while hundreds of perfectly good organs go to waste. In fact, there was an incident in January where a patient who was in need of a heart had a chance to receive it from a brain-dead patient from a different city. However, the chance was lost as the family could not afford the fee of 19,000 USD sought by airline operators for transporting the heart.
Air Ambulances will Transport Organs at Lower Costs
MAB Aviation Pvt. Ltd. together with UAE-based Radius Circle will provide the service at a reduced cost. As a result of this collaboration, patients awaiting organ transplants will be able to receive them on time and without having to pay high fees.
As per the MoU signed between the company and the Maharashtra government, MAB Aviation will deploy aircrafts equipped with necessary medical facilities for transporting patients and organs. This agreement is expected to bring down the cost of air ambulances to around 3,000 USD.
