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Heli Ambulance of AIIMS, which is considered a strong link of emergency health services in the inaccessible hilly areas of Uttarakhand, has itself become an example of poor condition. This service, which once proved to be life saving for serious patients, has been lying in a damaged condition in Kedarnath for the last one year, but the responsible agencies have not considered it necessary to take care of it till now.

Actually, the heli ambulance was damaged during an accident in May 2025. This ambulance had reached Kedarnath to pick up a female patient, where the accident occurred during hard landing. Since then this extremely important aero-medical service has come to a complete standstill. The surprising thing is that after the accident neither the ambulance was removed nor a new service was started in its place.

As per the contract, if the heli ambulance meets with an accident or gets damaged then the concerned company has to provide a new ambulance within three days. But the reality is that even after a year has passed, neither a new heli ambulance was deployed nor the damaged helicopter was removed from the spot. This situation exposes the slowness and carelessness of the system.

AIIMS Heli Ambulance service was also started with considerable delay. The service was announced by the then Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on September 20, 2022, but it took almost two years to get off the ground. Finally, on October 29, 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated it virtually. However, this service could not run smoothly even for seven months and was completely stopped after the accident.

This heli ambulance service was proving to be very useful especially for the remote and inaccessible areas of Uttarakhand. This service was especially beneficial in Uttarkashi and Chamoli districts. Many serious patients, especially pregnant women, could get timely treatment, which could save their lives. For this reason it was considered a major achievement in the health services of the state.

Even during the Chardham Yatra, this service was considered very important. It was claimed that the pilgrims would be provided immediate medical care in case of emergency, but in reality this service could not operate properly for even a single yatra season. According to AIIMS Public Relations Officer Dr. Sriloy Mohanty, the state government is getting support to bring serious patients and injured to AIIMS through helicopter.