Large civilian air medical jets: implications for Australian disaster health

Disasters involving multiple foreign nationals overseas will invariably necessitate an air medical response to repatriate the casualties to their respective home countries. Depending on the location of the incident and the number of casualties, foreign governments may need to perform a large-scale air medical response. This may involve using large civilian jet aircraft (LCJ) as an air medical platform. This paper provides a review of the current understanding when converting LCJs for air medical capability. This review concludes that LCJ configured for air medical capability can be used successfully in disasters. The findings indicate that standard civilian jets can be reconfigured for transporting multiple casualties. The use of these aircraft can be considered in disaster planning to complement existing military arrangements or as an alternative option. This strategy can be an inexpensive and effective option and should be considered by Australian disaster health agencies.