There is hardly a country in the world that needs medical air transportation as much as Afghanistan does today. With the brutal Taliban sneaking attacks on the coalition forces and the Afghans, it is hard to imagine the country without proper medical flight facilities.
At the current time, it is the coalition forces that are taking care of medical evacuation of the soldiers; however, the help is fast dwindling with most of the forces being withdrawn to bring down the Western interference in the region. This however is not a welcome move for the Afghan soldiers and civilians who are caught right in the middle of deadly terror attacks every other day.
Afghanistan doesn’t have Adequate Medical Air Transportation Facilities
Afghanistan, as it stands today, lacks the resources or the skills to execute critical medical evacuations, including medical air transportation. Currently, US help in the form of platoons like 4th Platoon, Charlie Company is still available. One report revealed that this platoon carried out close to 40 missions in two months recently. Huge blood loss and amputations are common in the war-torn region.
If one looks at the current capability of Afghanistan when it comes to medical air transportation, it is hugely inadequate. Take for instance the Kandahar Air Wing. It only has very few choppers and is not operational at night. On the brighter side, Afghan National Army’s Medical Command is in the process of formulating a medical evacuation plan which involves air ambulance choppers.
There is some Medical Air Transportation Respite for Now
The recent announcement by President Obama that the American troops will continue their presence in Afghanistan is welcome news for Afghans. Although the American troops would largely refrain from indulging in active combat, their presence means, the locals get the medical air transportation facility. They just hope that the Americans do not decide against extending air medical evacuation services to the Afghans.
