It was just before noon when the Beechcraft B1900c took off from the Jaffna Palaly airport, circling the emerald green waters cradling the Jaffna peninsula before heading for the azure blue skies. On board the 18-seater plane were sick women and children, being flown to hospitals in Colombo for their medical needs.

Boat takes too long and is costly

Although there is a boat available to Jaffna which is in the North from Trincomalee in the East, this is not practical for patients given the time it takes and the cost involved, said Emmanouil Kokkiniotis, who coordinates the flight at the ICRC office in Jaffna. He goes on to elaborate on some of the medical necessities that require airlifting. "Patients with cardiac ailments, ophthalmologic conditions, or neurosurgical and paediatric cases, to name a few, are those we usually transport because they cannot be treated locally or require specialized treatment," he explains.

Sulochana and her three-month-old infant son are among the beneficiaries of the ICRC's flight. Standing next to her baby's cot in the children's ward at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital where her baby has been warded for the last ten days, 27-year-old Sulochana is sad and apprehensive. Her son Thiluxan has been referred to the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children (LRH) in Colombo for follow up medical tests after having contracted meningitis and she does not know what the doctors are going to tell her, making her concerns for her son's health overshadow her nerves at taking her maiden flight to Colombo. "I will do everything in my power to make my baby well," she says with determination, as she prepares for her flight to Colombo the following day, leaving her husband, who is a tailor, behind in Jaffna.

Plane provides 'huge service'

Unlike Sulochana, eight-year-old Dilakshan is excited about his plane journey to Colombo. Dilakshan is suffering from a kidney ailment and requires follow up medical treatment at the LRH.

"This is the second time he will be going to Colombo on the ICRC plane because he went last August as well for treatment," pointed out his grandmother Joan, who is with Dilakshan at the Jaffna Teaching hospital. She will be accompanying her young grandson on the flight the following day as his mother cannot leave her younger child behind at home in Jaffna since the family does not know when Dilakshan will finish his treatment. Although the average treatment lasts one to two weeks some stay on longer, for two months or even more depending on the treatment required, according to Kokkiniotis.

Joan is grateful to the ICRC. "The ICRC is providing a huge service to us," she says. "It is because of the ICRC that my family is able to give my grandson a future."

The flight is coordinated by the ICRC delegation in Colombo and the ICRC office in Jaffna. Kokkiniotis and his assistant Sellamuthu Savunthala visit the patients the day before the flight at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital, which is responsible for referring patients to hospitals in Colombo, and makes an assessment about their suitability to make the journey. The team then meet with the patients on the day of the flight and attend to boarding formalities. During their flight to and from Colombo the patients are accompanied by a doctor to deal with any medical eventualities that may occur whilst on board.

Flight also vital for vaccines

Although airlifting patients is its primary role, the flight is vital for transporting medicines and medical equipment, which are sent for repairs in Colombo and flown back to Jaffna. It is also invaluable for transporting vaccines, most of which are used to immunize children and pregnant women.

"Vaccines used for immunizing children against killer diseases such as measles, mumps and rubella and tetanus oxide for pregnant women are flown in, as most of these require refrigeration, without which their efficacy becomes questionable," said Morven Murchison, who heads the ICRC's health activities in Sri Lanka and is based in the Colombo office.

According to Kokkiniotis the flights are also used to transport specimens of patients suspected of having tumours for biopsies. "There is no laboratory or pathologist at the Jaffna teaching Hospital, so the specimens are sent for testing to the Medical Research Institute in Colombo, who then sends the results back to Jaffna".

The flight also allows health sector employees to fly to other parts of the country for training, which helps them keep abreast of developments in their work.