- Uttarakhand will start India’s first helicopter emergency medical service.
- Union Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that India’s first Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) would be launched from Uttarakhand.
- At the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Rishikesh, a helicopter will be deployed from where it can be sent anywhere within a 150 km radius to transport people to hospitals.
- Under the project ‘Sanjeevani’, the HEMS service would be operated.
- The development came a day after the recently inauguration of the newly constructed terminal building (Phase-2) at Jolly Grant Airport, Dehradun, by Scindia.
- Built at a cost of ₹486 crore, the terminal will be able to serve 3,240 passengers during peak hours and 4.7 million passengers annually.
- In December, the Uttarakhand Helipad and Heliport Policy 2023 was approved by the Uttarakhand Cabinet to address challenges in access to remote areas in the hilly regions of the state.
- The policy was proposed by the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA), the nodal body for the development of civil aviation infrastructure and ecosystems in the state.
