The child, positive for the virus and in danger of life from serious respiratory problems, traveled inside an ambulance loaded directly on board the aircraft of the 46th Air Brigade
A few minutes ago an Air Force C-130J with a two-year-old girl on board, positive for Covid and in imminent danger of life due to severe respiratory failure, landed at the Ciampino military airport.
The little patient was hospitalized at the “Pugliese Ciaccio” hospital in Catanzaro when, due to the worsening of her clinical conditions, it was necessary to immediately transfer her to the Infant Jesus of Rome.
The prefecture of Catanzaro requested emergency air transport, which was followed by - after coordination with the Italian Patient Evacuation Coordination Cell (ITAPECC) of the Operational Command of Vertice Interforze (Covi), which provides advice on patient transportability in this kind of missions - the take-off order from the Situation Room of the Air Squad Command to one of the Air Force crews always ready to take off for this type of intervention.
Specifically, it was necessary to use a C-130J of the 46th Air Brigade of Pisa, suitable for embarking the ambulance in which the child traveled, monitored and assisted in breathing, together with a team medical. After the disembarkation of the little patient in Ciampino, from where it was then transferred by land to the Child Jesus, the aircraft returned to the permanent base in Pisa to resume the H24 readiness service.
Through its Flight Departments, the Air Force provides vehicles and crews ready to take off at any time and able to operate even in complex weather conditions to ensure the urgent transport not only of people in imminent danger of life, as happened today, but also of organs and medical teams for transplants. Hundreds of flight hours are carried out each year for this type of intervention by the aircraft of the 31st Wing of Ciampino, the 14th Wing of Pratica di Mare and the 46th Air Brigade of Pisa.