Saudi Aramco has announced that it will now allow the air ambulances operating in the Eastern Province to use its own airstrips when transferring injured persons, when necessary.

The secretary general of the Traffic Safety Committee in the Province, Sultan bin Houmod Al-Zahrani, said that Aramco has allowed the Red Crescent air ambulance to use its airstrips to transfer the injured from traffic accidents on highways and nearby locations.

In addition, officials from the Directorate of Health Affairs in the Eastern Province emphasized the readiness of Jubail and Hafar Al-Batin Hospitals’ airstrips to receive injured cases.

Al-Zahrani said that the “maintenance of air ambulance planes was initially coordinated with Aramco to make use of the King Fahd Airport in Dammam, as well as the Hafr Al-Batin Airport and the Al-Ahsa Airport, until allocated Red Crescent landing sites had been fully prepared.”

“Nearly 60 percent of traffic accident deaths occur at the scene rather than in hospitals. The new service will reduce this ratio as the basic principle in response mechanisms and techniques is to provide pre-hospital medical services quickly to help speed up healing and to reduce complications,” Al-Zahrani said.

The quality of air ambulances in the Kingdom remain coveted among current global emergency services, providing support for ambulances on the road daily.