THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An air ambulance does not figure in the priority list of the state government at present. Instead, it is focused on implementing a comprehensive trauma care system in the state, Health Minister K K Shailaja has said. As against popular perception, air ambulance would not have helped some infants who were transported from the northern part of the state to Kochi for treatment. 

“Generally, infants suffering from high BP and respiratory ailments cannot be transported in an air ambulance. Also, an air ambulance would incur huge costs for purchase and maintenance,” she told the Assembly on Monday. 

The government wants to make a trauma care ambulance available for every 30 km of a major road. 
An Apex Training and Simulation Centre in Trauma and Emergency Medicine will also be set up.