Northeast to Get India's First Helicopter-Based Dispensary

Nearly a third of India's population do not have access to hospital, as a result of which poor patients living in remote areas remain deprived of medical care.

In a first-of-its-kind, the northeast region will get India's first Air Dispensary, Minister of Development of North East Region (DONER) Jitendra Singh revealed. If found successful, the Northeast model of “air dispensary” can be emulated in other hill states of the country.

For the air dispensary, which will be based in a helicopter, the government has contributed Rs 25 crore as initial funding.

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‘India’s Northeast region is all set to get the country’s first-ever “air dispensary” based in a helicopter. The government aims to start the project soon.’

"For quite a few months, the DoNER Ministry had been exploring the idea of introducing a helicopter-based Dispensary/OPD service in such far-flung and remote areas where no doctor or medical facility is available and the patients in need also do not have access to any medical care," said Singh after a meeting with the representatives of the aviation sector and helicopter services.

The meeting was held on Sunday. According to Singh, the proposal, put forward by the Ministry of DoNER, has been accepted and is in the final stages of processing in the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The government aims to start the project by the beginning of 2018. Nearly a third of India's population does not have access to proper hospital bed care, as a result of which poor patients living in remote areas remain deprived of crucial medical care.

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"The experiment being introduced in the Northeast, at the behest of the Ministry of Northeast/DoNER, can also be emulated in other hill states having difficult topography like Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh," said Singh.

The minister said that as per the envisaged plans, the helicopters would be based at two locations -- Imphal in Manipur and Shillong in Meghalaya -- to begin with.