A life-threatening seven-year-old boy traveled aboard an Air Force aircraft inside an ambulance assisted by a team of the “Bambino Gesù”: he will be treated thanks to a cooperation program between the National Transplant Center Italian and Greek.
The little patient, of Greek nationality, in imminent danger of life due to very serious heart disease, needed to be transferred urgently to the “Bambino Gesù” pediatric hospital in Rome. Due to the type of transport it was necessary to use a C-130J of the 46th Pisa Air Brigade, an aircraft suitable for embarking the ambulance in which the child traveled, monitored and assisted in extracorporeal circulation (ECMO ) by a medical team made up of nurses, resuscitators and heart surgeons.
The life-saving flight was activated, at the request of the Greek Embassy in Rome, by the Aerospace Operations Command (Coa) of the Air Force which immediately involved the 46th Air Brigade of Pisa, one of the Departments that carries out the operational readiness service for this kind of mission. The child will be treated thanks to a cooperation program between the National Transplant Center and the corresponding Greek competent authority, the Hellenic Transplant Organization: according to the agreement, operational since 2005, the most urgent Greek patients, especially pediatric ones, can be transplanted in our country, while donor organs not used in Greece can be destined for Italian patients waiting for a transplant.
Once all the necessary procedures were carried out by the military crew, the aircraft, which took off from Pisa airport, first headed for Ciampino from where it then took off for Athens, around 11 yesterday morning. Here the little one, aboard the ambulance, was immediately embarked on the aircraft for emergency transport. After landing at Ciampino Airport, which took place shortly after 7 pm, the ambulance headed to the “Bambino Gesù” pediatric hospital in Rome for subsequent hospitalization pending a transplant.
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