Bengaluru: A city-based air ambulance service will soon launch its first training programme ‘Fellow in Aviation Medicine’ (FAM) from January 26. Through this programme, doctors will be trained to treat patients, even stab and bullet wounds, while in the air.

Through the 12-month-long highly specialised training programme, the International Critical Care Air Transfer Team (ICATT) will prepare doctors pursuing a career in advance emergency medicine, anaesthesia, critical care and trauma care.

The main aim of the programme is to establish a team of doctors from various streams of medicine to respond to various possible emergencies and patients.

Presently, many victims of various accidents lose their lives because they do not receive treatment on time. Their survival depends on their timely arrival at a nearby hospital or one that is equipped to treat the particular injury.

Co-founder of ICATT, Shalini Nalwad said that there is a pressing need for specialised doctors to reach the patient in case of emergencies rather than depending on getting the patient to a nearby hospital fast. She added that ICATT would have a command centre to monitor the entire emergency operation from deploying helicopters to selecting the most appropriate hospital for the patient.