Topsgrup launches air ambulance

Mumbai, Mar 29 (UNI) Topsgrup, India's leading security group, today formally launched its new service, Tops Air Rescue (TAR), an air ambulance, the Rs 200 crore company said, would be at par with the international standards.

Addressing a news conference, its Chairman-cum-Managing Director Dr Diwan Rahul Nanda and Chief Operating Officer Dr Prabhat Jauhari said it differed from the Apollo Group of Hospitals' air ambulance as the latter catered to patients going to its own hospitals and doctors. TAR, on the other hand, with its tie-up with different hospitals, aimed to carry patients requiring emergency medical aid to any part of India. The service was informally launched last month and had already saved five lives, they added.

Saying that Company had ''access'' to chartered aircraft and helicopters to suit different needs, they said TAR had been specially designed to handle emergency cases requiring high levels of coordination, alertness and safety. TAR's services will be available at all the 90 offices of Topsgrup in India and it was tying up with similar air ambulance services in Dubai and the US as well.

The air ambulance service will cost anywhere between Rs 75,000 and Rs 90,000 per hour of flying, apart from other medical and related costs. TAR had a state-of-the-art aero-medical equipment with each aircraft having the capacity to be converted into an ICU environment with facilities.

The Company's earlier product, Topsline 1252, an emergency response service launched on September 11, 2004, had three lakh members in Mumbai alone, paying Rs 100 each, to obtain any emergency service they may require just by dialling the number 1252. This service had so far saved 3,000 lives, including about 400 during the last year's floods in the megacity.

Topsgrup, they said, was the only Indian security group to provide ''Total Security Solutions'', including cash management. It was catering to the needs of top corporate houses and personalities, including Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.

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