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Health chiefs ponder air ambulance
 An air ambulance is mooted for the province |
The capabilities of an air ambulance will be on display in Northern Ireland on Friday as health officials decide whether one should operate in the province.
The Automobile Association (AA) has set aside �14m to establish a network of air ambulances across the UK, providing the full operational costs in the first year.
'Flying medics' can provide urgent medical assistance at car crashes, farming and industrial accidents.
Conventional ambulances can take up to half an hour to get patients to hospital but an air ambulance takes just 10 minutes.
The aim is to increase the number of air ambulances in the UK from nine to 18 over the next three years. There is already a helicopter earmarked for the province.
In the first year, local health authorities would simply foot the bill for the paramedics who are on board.
In the second year, the AA would meet three quarters of the cost with the rest being picked up by charity fund raising activities. The costs are shared equally in year three.
On Friday, the air ambulance will go first to the Ulster Hospital at Dundonald and then to Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry.
But BBC NI health correspondent Dot Kirby is not optimistic that local health chiefs will give it the go-ahead.
"At the moment it looks unlikely local health bosses will decide an air ambulance for the province represents good value for money," she said
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 | 21 Sep 99 | Wales |
| Air ambulance cover for Wales |
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