The role of air ambulance services in ensuring accessible emergency medical care in the аrctic

Aim of the Research: to assess the availability of emergency medical care to the population in the Arctic zone of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) in 2022–2024. The object of the study is the organization of emergency medical care in the Arctic zone of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia); the subject of the study is the emergency (including specialized air ambulance) medical services. The analytical and selective statistical methods, as well as the methods of mathematical analysis and expert assessment, were used to carry out a retrospective analysis of the main performance indicators of the Republic’s Center for Disaster Medicine and the Emergency Medical Service in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) in 2022–2024. The mortality rate of the population of the Arctic group of districts was established to be higher than the average indicators of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), primarily due to circulatory system diseases and external causes. Land ambulance covers only 51.4 % of the population in the Arctic zone. Thus, the air ambulance services play a crucial role in providing emergency medical care to the ill and injured. In 2022–2024, the Arctic zone accounted for the prevailing share of the missions (from 27 % to 31 %). 45.0 % of the total number of intra-regional evacuations and 51.4 % of inter-regional evacuations were carried out in the Arctic districts. The Arctic zone also ranked first in the number of evacuated patients with acute cerebrovascular accidents and various injuries (24.9 % and 33.1 %, respectively).

1. Law of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) dated October 4, 2002 No. 429-II “On the list of hard-to-reach and remote areas in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) (as amended by the Laws of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) dated October 14, 2009 No. 331-IV) (in Russian).

2. Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated October 26, 2020 No. 645 “On the Strategy for the development of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation and ensuring national security for the period until 2035.” (in Russian).

3. Official website of the Territorial Body of the Federal State Statistics Service for the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). Available at: https://14.rosstat.gov.ru/chisl_sostav (in Russian).

4. Annual report of the State Public Institution of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) “Republic Center for Disaster Medicine” of the Ministry of Health of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) for 2024 (in Russian).

5. Ivanova A.A., Aprosimov L.A., Potapov A.F., et al. Providing emergency specialized medical care and conducting medical evacuation using air ambulances in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Disaster Medicine. 2023;4:46–52 (in Russian). https://doi.org/10/33266/2070-1004-2023-4