Air Ambulances in Pakistan - Getting it together

Society Business and Career
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I’m probing an idea here and need your help. It’s one of those midnight ideas, so feel free to add/bash whatever you want. But DON’T take away without giving me a handsome cut. Wink wink.

It involves pooling a few resources together to see if this idea makes any sense. It’s a solution to the pathetic road ambulance services in Karachi and Lahore. The ones no one gets out of the way for. Anyway, here’s the concept:

**Establish a private helicopter service in specific parts of Karachi/Lahore. **
[ol]

[li]** Fee** (These are estimates. Dont slaughter me just yet. It’s 2am where I am.)[/li][list=a]
[li]**Pay per use **@ $1000USD per airlift. It’s expensive. But when you’ve got someone dying, you’re going to spend that money instead of calling for an ambulance or driving yourself. Lets be honest, that’s what I’m banking on. The demand exists. We’re flying ONE helicopter per city, and given the number of people getting into accidents, even at $2,500 we’ll be kept busy.[/li][li]A subscription system/insurance plan with varying number of air lifts. We’re talking about single airlift (1)/family airlift (3) type packages with varying premiums per month. 140USD per month for a single package. 400USD per month for a family package.[/li][/ol]

[li]** Hospitals** might be a problem. I havent talked to any myself. But it doesnt look discouraging. It’s convenient that some of the best hospitals in our cities are located near wealthy residents. Aga Khan etc. There will be an obvious radius I’ll fly. I’d assume these hospitals will take the patients. Might even give them a cut. I can keep it simple and cordon off a part of their parking lot or lease some land to build a helipad. [/li]
[li]** Landing** is an issue, but I can get a crook or two to give me the proper permits to land anywhere I want. Most communities have parks or wide boulevards. They’ll be the rendezvous points. I just need to stay clear of wires. [/li]
[li]** Getting a helicopter/pilot** and maintaining it is a major expense. But we’re talking about less than 750,000USD for a slightly used helicopter. I can setup the pilots and maintenance for less than 200,000USD per year, and that’s a HIGH estimate.[/list][/li]
Would YOU pay what I’m proposing? Do you know people who would?

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Re: Air Ambulances in Pakistan - Getting it together

^^ Edhi helicopters already provide that service..let me find out more since my abu used to do that in UAE, but then again he was in Police there ,and it was provided by the government.But I know there is Askari Aviation and Edhi who have helicopters non governmentally owned.

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Re: Air Ambulances in Pakistan - Getting it together

One thing is for certain that the demand is there. A normal city the size of Vancouver operates about 6 Medevac helicopters and some of them are owned by private operators such as Helijet.

I would imagine that the city like Lahore or Karachi may have actual need of three times as many as Vancouver; only due to the sheer number of people residing in former cities. The problem is who's going to foot the bill. Over here, the medicare system is well established that the patients are not required to cover expanses in case of life threatening trauma / emergency. The helicopter comes and just picks up the patient - no questions asked.

It will be very naive to expect patient's relative to cover the bill, since in most cases it may not happen. You need to ask yourself two things; what's your motivation? Is it to make living using a helicopter in Pakistan OR is it to provide medevac services. If you want to offer helicopter services in Pakistan, then you will need to offer multipurpose charter services like Askari Aviation etc. If you would like to make money by offering medevac using helicopter, chances are that you may not be able to make it since the capacity to pay for such a service is just not there. Charitable services such as Edhi can afford to operate a fleet of dedicated aircrafts since they have got the funds.

First thing you must do is to get together the operating costs of a helicopter. Then, you should hook up with Government agencies and major private hospitals that can be your clients, as they have much deeper pockets than an average person.

To make for the down time, you should offer charter services to VIP clients, tourists, and foreign operated businesses in Pakistan...hope this helps.

BTW - don't mix the passion of flying a helicopter with operating an aviation business.

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Re: Air Ambulances in Pakistan - Getting it together

Thanks Amber & Abdullah, really.

Edhi and Askari do exist, but they are for humanitarian efforts. Their helicopters cant do anything for a family who needs to get grandma to the hospital asap. They're something else.

I didnt make it clear enough, but my motivation is not any social service. Rather, it's elitist in that I'm catering to a specific but significant wealthy population. The problem in Pakistan is that the income gap is monumental, but when it comes to medical emergencies - everyone's left to the ratty suzuki minivans stuck in traffic. Maybe if you're rich you'll get a Hyundai, but still, even with sirens blazing no one will get out of your way.Many people die in Pakistan simply waiting for people to move out of the way. For many families the affordability to air lift is there, but there is no mechanism to allow for it.

I'm banking on the impulse to "get to the hospital now". It's not exactly ethical. The good thing about Karachi and Lahore is that these rich enclaves are nearby. It's also HIGHLY concentrated. You have entire neighbourhoods which is willing and capable of using an air ambulance.

I emphasize the idea of an "insurance plan" type scheme. Where I generate revenue through subscriptions. I can even approach Adamjee Insurance or any other big insurance broker to get my service on some of their premium plans. I'm making it very clear, that I'm trying to capitalize on that instinctual desire to "get to the hospital now!!!".

Depending on the package you choose, you get a certain number of trips in a year. If you dont have a membership or you run out of trips, you'll be charged 2,500USD or whatever else the pay per use fee is. An airlift in North America will cost double that, but I'm only serving specific neighbourhoods. Defense. Clifton. That's it. Want the helicopter to go further than that, and i'll double the fee also. I cant afford to have the helicopter in North Nazimabad with a patient incase someone else needs a lift.

There is ONE operational problem, and because of it I wont be able to rent these planes out to VIPs. Emergencies happen without notice. I cant afford to be doing a tour of Karachi's beachfront when the helicopter is needed. This brings up the issue - what happens if two people require the helicopter at once? Its an issue I can deal with later.

I need to see if there's any demand for this. Would it be plausible to pay 140USD a month to ensure you'll be lifted once in any given year?

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Re: Air Ambulances in Pakistan - Getting it together

Dear hskhan, there are still many operational gaps in your idea, not to mention lack of any concrete business plan. But, I am guessing it's only a start. Here's what I recommend, before you take any steps, work as a hanger monkey with some helicopter company for few months; even if it's refuelling helicopters and getting to know what it takes to run an operation. I am sure that will clarify a lot of fine details which you just won't be able to grasp until are closely associated with the industry itself.

I took training as a commercial helicopter pilot - although, exhausted my funds long before I managed to finish it. I was not motivated to back for two reasons, there was acute shortage of jobs for the new pilots in the late nineties since the resource sector in BC was in slump, secondly, I had figured out that there were other ways to make more money than being a commercial pilot..

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Re: Air Ambulances in Pakistan - Getting it together

hskhan i was really impressed by ur idea untill the "elite class" part came in i thought we could use it for poor people in our Northeren Areas where even the vans/ambulances are hard to find....the org I am working offers a tele-health service and now its planning to offer health services by mobile centres i.e a van sorta thing will go to specific areas and u know provide the sick people an opportunity to contact specialists via sattelite...anyways thts not the topic but i had advice u work it out deeply n look fer sum donor agency or sumfin like that fr funds

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Re: Air Ambulances in Pakistan - Getting it together

helicopter ambulances are amazing...they DO DEFINATELY save lives due to timely evacuation from the mishap site BUT its not a childs playto operate....

first of all u need to have a LARGE pool of users and by large pool i mean LARGE!!!

operating a helicopter is more costly than operating a pessenger aircraft...secondly its not just the helicopter and the fuel cost...u will need to rent a space at probably a civil/or if possible a military airport...faisal base in karachi/chaklala base in islamabad etc...

you will also need maintanance engineers/crew chiefs/administartion staff/back up pilots(as u will be using for emergencies,pilots can be sick at that time too!)...and a lot of other expenditures will also be revealed later....

talking of askari aviation and aga khan foundation...they have helicopters but they are INSTITUTIONS....askari has back up of army...they do evacuate patients but they also charter helis to foreigners,the FWO personnel,the 'elite class' and they are maintaing it because they have numerous other sources of incomes...same goes with the AKF...the foundation provides back up to the heli operations.... so just buying a couple of helis for ONLY ambulance purpose is not at all an effective idea...

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Re: Air Ambulances in Pakistan - Getting it together

Just an update. The project is up and running.

It was just an idea last year, but after some hard work the idea has materialized what is now Pakistan’s first private air ambulance service. The first phase will be implemented within a few weeks.

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Re: Air Ambulances in Pakistan - Getting it together

Nice HSK...thanks for the link and keep me updated if you can.

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Re: Air Ambulances in Pakistan - Getting it together

I don't know. I personally don't like the idea of making money from people's misfortunes. There are many ways to earn a living and there must be a better way.

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Re: Air Ambulances in Pakistan - Getting it together

:)** Masha Allah a man with vision…may Allah reward you…**

also keep in mind…the service will be more affective if you ask the Hospitals to put Helipads on their roofs…:biggthumb

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Re: Air Ambulances in Pakistan - Getting it together

HSK, what was your level of involvement with this?

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Re: Air Ambulances in Pakistan - Getting it together

Writing a check for 6 helicopters. Not. :)

If you want to know anything, please PM me. I wont comment openly.