Injured engineer airlifted from Afghanistan

In an operation described as the first of its kind during the ongoing lockdown, a Bengaluru-based air ambulance service brought a critically injured Indian engineer from Afghanistan to Hyderabad.

International Critical Care Air Transfer Team (ICATT), a Bengaluru-based air ambulance service, said it received the call from the individual’s insurer to carry out the evacuation, days after the 44-year-old engineer broke his hip in an accident on April 16.

A source said the engineer, currently receiving treatment at a hospital in Hyderabad, has been given a routine Covid-19 check, in keeping with the protocol.

“It took substantial effort to get clearances from the Ministry of External Affairs, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Disaster Management and Ministry of Civil Aviation over the past four days to bring home this young engineer,” said Dr Shalini Nalwad, CEO of ICATT.

Alan Joy, an independent nurse who accompanied the medical flight, explained that the patient had been suffering from intracapsular hip (femoral neck) fractures that are contained within the hip capsule itself. The ambulance used was a Learjet outfitted with ICU equipment. Although the Indian Air Force has carried out evacuations of Indian nationals from other countries in the days leading up to the lockdown, an IAF spokesperson said the air force had not been intimated for evacuation in this specific case.