MARIGOT--Care of critically ill patients has been thrown into disarray following the halting of one airline?s medivac flights to Guadeloupe, Martinique, and French Guiana by the French Civil Aviation Authority, it was disclosed Tuesday.
The Aviation Authority took the decision November 15, to prohibit Dutch-side-based airline company Jet Budget from making medivac flights, despite the company having all permits and authorisation to fly passengers and patients to the French islands.
The decision provoked an angry response from French side hospital unions, which said patients? lives are in jeopardy while the results of the bidding for a permanent air ambulance carrier is awaited.
Jet Budget was the carrier being used by the Louis-Constant Fleming Hospital since the hospital terminated its contract with Transports A�riens Intercaraibes (TAI) in September 2011. Jet Budget operates a Cessna 510 Citation Mustang jet from Princess Juliana International Airport on the Dutch side.
The medical union of the Northern Island Hospitals explained that the Jet Budget plane is operated by two pilots, is pressurised, fast and fully-equipped to the best air ambulance standards and can fly at any time day or night.
TAI?s service on the other hand no longer complied with up-to-date requirements regarding medical evacuation of critically ill patients, the union claims, adding that ?their timeworn and poorly equipped aircraft offers precarious transportation conditions.? The union added TAI planes were operated by a single pilot, which was not the highest safety standard.
Take-off at night from Grand Case airport was impossible after 6:00pm and impossible to return to Grand Case at night leading to instances where a whole team (aircraft, doctor, and nurse) had to stay overnight in Martinique. This had an impact on scheduling for the emergency room staff at the St. Martin hospital as the medivac team would return late the next day.
TAI sued the hospital for terminating the contract and their claim was subsequently rejected by the Administrative Court in Guadeloupe. TAI appealed to the Conseil d?Etat and this procedure is still pending.
The LC Fleming Hospital has since launched a new bid for a carrier for which TAI and Jet Budget are among the applicants. Offers are currently being studied.
The union states that the French Civil Aviation Authority has violated the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the agreement signed by France and the Netherlands Antilles in 1973 and updated in 1986, and which is still valid according to the head of Cura�ao?s Civil Aviation Authority as per a November 9, 2011 letter.
?This action openly aims to protect TAI?s economical interests,? the union asserts. ?It interferes with a public call for bids authorised by a French public hospital, and forces emergency physicians and intensive care specialists to use an air carrier they do not want to work with for technical, medical, and relationship reasons. It is also violating international agreements.?
Jet Budget chief pilot Eugene Duzant confirmed his company has instigated legal proceedings against the civil aviation authority over its decision.
?The aviation authority now allows us only to do passenger flights to Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana and not medical flights, but they have violated the MOU which gives us carriers from the Netherlands Antilles the right to fly into those countries,? said Duzant. ?We feel the same way that the aviation authority is protecting TAI. We want the aviation authority to re-evaluate our case and respect the MOU.?
Duzant said the company was given traffic rights for medical evacuations first in February 2011 for three months, then renewed from April to October, and the last renewal for only 15 days which raised a red flag.
He added Jet Budget has done over a hundred flights for the hospital this year. ?We do other business but for us the hospital is a very important customer,? said Duzant
In the meantime, it was understood TAI is still carrying out medivac flights. Attempts to contact the civil aviation authority for a comment were unsuccessful.
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