Over 200 hours of medical flights performed in 2022, says Fire and Rescue Dept

GUA MUSANG: The Air Unit of the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department has carried out nearly 200 hours of medical evacuation (Medevac) flights to evacuate patients from the Orang Asli settlements throughout last year.

JBPM Subang air base public relations officer Mohd Hasrizal Kamaruzzaman said the statistics involved 54 flights.

He said that six helicopters were used, from the Subang Air Base, Selangor, and Bertam Air Base, Penang.

"The total number of Medevac flights performed throughout 2022 is 170.1 hours. Four helicopters were flown from the Subang air base, involving an Agusta A109E helicopter, two Agusta Westland AW189s and a Mi-17-IV helicopter, which was used to carry heavier loads including goods and passengers.

"Two Agusta Westland AW139 helicopters were deployed from the Bertam airbase,” he said in a statement on Thursday (Jan 12).

According to Mohd Hasrizal, the A109E helicopter recorded the least number of flights, while the AW189 was widely used over the past 12 months.

"The A109E was flown seven times for 19.9 hours, followed by the Mi-17-IV at nine times with a total flight time of 32 hours, while the AW139 was flown 12 times with 43.2 hours of flight and the most used was the AW189 for 26 missions, which accumulated 75 hours of flights in total,” he said.

He added that Medevac assignments were carried out almost every month last year except for April.

"According to last year’s Medevac operation statistics, the JBPM Air Unit was on duty from January to March and May to December. July recorded the highest number of flights, which was 13 operations for a total of 40.6 hours, involving six aircraft from two air bases,” he said. - Bernama