When we first arrived in Uganda, we were enchanted by the stunning beauty of the country and the friendly nature of the people. The remote locations, drawing so many tourists for the opportunity to see the fabulous wildlife and scenery Uganda enjoys, give one a real sense of adventure. However, it is also the remoteness of various locations that can be a terrible obstacle if the unthinkable happens.

Today Uganda has its first helicopter rescue service. The rescue service operates a twin engine helicopter which is standard for all medical evacuations in Europe and America. Two engines are always better than one over the forested and otherwise difficult terrain covering much of Uganda: even if one engine fails, the helicopter can easily continue to fly to a safe landing location. Single-engine helicopters do not provide this extra insurance of safety.

The rescue helicopter carries on board a trained paramedic or doctor with a host of medical equipment and oxygen in order to stabilise a casualty at the scene and then monitor them en-route to the hospital, which provides the base of operations. In this way medical help gets to a casualty at the earliest opportunity rather than after a long road trip. The first hour after a serious trauma is sustained is referred to in medical circles as ‘The Golden Hour.’ If medical help is administered within this time, then the casualty’s survival rates are staggeringly improved. The helicopter then delivers the casualty directly to the hospital.

Our first medical rescue was undertaken within our first few weeks of operation. It is always a tense time; this was no different. The casualty was a young lady with appendicitis in a small village southwest of Kasese. Her friend called us to request the rescue, but this poor lady had to walk up a hill outside the medical facility in order to get a telephone signal on her mobile. There were no land lines available other than the village public phone which was constantly in use. We arranged times to call her in order to keep her updated on the situation with the insurance company, our arrival time and for her to give us any changes in the patients’ condition.

Our landing site was the local football pitch next to the local medical facility where we drew quite a crowd of interested onlookers. People here are curious but polite, so the crowd of children stayed well away and caused no concern for our flight safety. The local police were very helpful and kept an eye on things for us just in case.

The patient was handed over to our medic by her doctor at the scene and then gently loaded onto the helicopter in our stretcher. The inflatable mattress that fits on the stretcher helped to make her as comfortable as possible. Her friend traveled with us and got a front seat ride to leave as much space in the back for the medic to attend to his patient. We are happy to report that on arriving at the hospital the patient was quickly operated on and recovered completely to go home a few days later. All our air and ground crew wore beaming smiles for a week.

Our first month of operations in Uganda, happily, has been busier than we expected - with our helicopter also being chartered for everything from film companies in search of spectacular footage of Uganda’s natural beauty to transporting engineers out to remote sites to repair mobile telephone masts that have been struck by lightening.

We have also been fortunate enough to be asked to take part in a special day transporting a new bride and groom to their wedding feast and honoured to transport various famous people. The job here is both fascinating and challenging; every day brings a new experience. The wonderful thing about a helicopter is that it is a very versatile machine that can land and take off in a very small area and be used in a variety of roles.

Now we have discovered the need for a full-time medical rescue helicopter we would like to work towards dedicating this helicopter to emergency work only and bring another to cover the charter work. This way there will be a full-time medical rescue service available every day of the year. Gaining funding for such a project will be the next challenge!