Why Are Hospitals Offering Air Ambulance Services?

Governments across the world are making numerous efforts to deploy air ambulance services in specific areas to offer better and immediate treatment to patients. For example, in August 2019, the government of Tamil Nadu, India, established air ambulance facilities to shift patients suffering from chronic diseases and people injured in road accidents at distant locations to healthcare centers located within a 200–300 km radius. Likewise, China has introduced a pilot project for offering air ambulance services to patients residing in places with no medical facilities.

Moreover, the mounting number of air ambulance fleets will drive the air ambulance services market at a 5.4% CAGR during the forecast period (2020–2030). The market was valued at $8.9 billion in 2019, and it is projected to generate around $15.9 billion revenue by 2030. Air ambulance fleets are being expanded to offer faster services in areas lacking medical care facilities and in accident-prone areas. Leading private and public hospitals are partnering with aircraft operators to provide air ambulance services to patients requiring immediate attention.

According to the P&S Intelligence, North America has emerged as the largest user of air ambulance services in the recent past due to the presence of a large number of leading service providers in the U.S. Moreover, the existence of the requisite infrastructure for such services in the U.S. will encourage their adoption in the coming years. Additionally, the surging per capita income and increasing affordability of these services will augment their usage.

The Asia-Pacific (APAC) air ambulance services market is expected to demonstrate the fastest growth during the forecast period. This will be due to the increasing affordability of these services and soaring cases of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) requiring immediate advanced medical care in India and China. Besides, the mounting focus of service providers on collaborations, for the betterment of the healthcare industry, will contribute to the market growth in the region in the forecast years.

Thus, the surging government support for the integration of air ambulance services in the healthcare sector and expanding network of air ambulance bases will encourage the usage of such services.