The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has officially approved the procedure for organizing aeromedical patient evacuation using aircraft of the State Emergency Service (SES). This was announced by Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky, emphasizing that the mechanism is planned to be launched by the end of 2026. The new decision aims to reduce the transportation time of patients between medical facilities and ensure the delivery of patients abroad to receive specialized medical care.
How the Mechanism Will Work
The coordination of the entire aeromedical evacuation system will be handled by the Ukrainian Scientific and Practical Center for Emergency Medical Care and Disaster Medicine of the Ministry of Health. This very center will determine routes, priorities, and the sequence of transportations. The SES, in turn, will provide aircraft and crews, taking into account flight safety conditions and weather conditions. Thus, medical logistics and aviation infrastructure will work in tandem under unified management.
The Main Advantage Is Time Saving
The prime minister called the critical importance of every hour for patients in severe condition the key argument in favor of air evacuation. As a clear example, Koretsky cited the route from Kharkiv to the evacuation medical hub in Rzeszów, Poland: by land transport, the journey takes 15–16 hours, whereas by aircraft, the same path can be covered in 2–3 hours. "For patients in severe condition, every hour matters. Our task is to ensure they have the opportunity to receive the necessary medical care as soon as possible," the head of government stated.
Not Only Patients: Organs, Teams, and Equipment
The approved procedure provides not only for the transportation of patients between hospitals within the country but also for the delivery of Ukrainians for treatment abroad under the Medevac Ukraine program. A separate paragraph of the regulations highlights the transportation of donor organs for transplantation, medical teams, and necessary equipment. This means that the SES air corridor will become a multifunctional tool: from the urgent delivery of a patient to a specialized clinic to the logistics of organs and mobile teams of specialists.
Context: Evacuation of the Wounded Using Drones
The launch of the official aeromedical service comes against the backdrop of Ukrainian military personnel already repeatedly using unmanned solutions for the evacuation of the wounded. In particular, an operation to deliver a wounded soldier using a StarGate drone was carried out for the third time. During the latest mission, a 54-year-old serviceman who remained at a position for almost two months after being wounded by a mine was saved. These precedents demonstrate that the need for the rapid extraction of casualties from hard-to-reach zones is systemic, and the procedure approved by the government institutionalizes it.
