On Friday, Odisha bus accident victims were airlifted to SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack.
For the first time in Odisha, road accident victims were on Friday airlifted and the whole exercise was coordinated by the district administration of Cuttack keeping the nearby Aviation Research Centre (ARC) at Charbatia in the loop to keep an air traffic free zone.
Five critically injured road accident victims from Angul were airlifted to SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack for better treatment.
"The five critically injured patients were airlifted here in two sorties carried out by two choppers. The helipad at Satyabrata Stadium was kept ready with personnel from Fire Brigade and eight ambulances to rush the patients to the hospital, a distance of 5 km from the helipad," District Collector N C Mishra said.
Besides the five, 19 other injured were also rushed to the Cuttack Hospital in ambulances. Three were now undergoing treatment in the trauma ICU while five other with multiple fractures were treated in the trauma ward.
The condition of the remaining were stated to be out of danger and one patient was discharged from the hospital after first aid, district emergency officer Prabodh Rout said.
A team of doctors drawn from several departments were now attending to all the 23 injured currently undergoing treatment in the Cuttack hospital, said state health minister Atanu Sabyasachi Naik, who visited there and announced the state government would bear the cost of the treatment.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik reviewed the situation and asked the Collector of Angul district to probe the incident.
Mr Patnaik also asked the authorities to ensure the next of kin of the victims get the ex-gratia amount of Rs 2 lakh each within three days.