Medical emergency flights in remote areas: experience in Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea.
Light aircraft can be valuable for transfer of emergency patients from remote island health centres to a central hospital. A two-year experience of 92 such flights in Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea was reviewed. 50% of air charter evacuations were for obstetric or gynaecological patients, 35% for surgical, and 15% for medical cases. 63 of the patients might have died and another nine might have been left with a serious disability without the emergency air transfer. The average cost per life saved was approximately Kina 461 (360 pounds; US$520) and the average cost of providing the emergency service per head of population per year was about Kina 0.10 (0.08 pounds; US$0.12).
D000401:Aircraft; D002648:Child; D004630:Emergencies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010219:Papua New Guinea; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000628:therapy; D012423:Rural Health; D014187:Transportation of Patients / Q000191:economics; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000628:therapy