THE first six aviation-spec ambulances destined for the Family Islands have arrived in New Providence under a Heads of Agreement between the Government of The Bahamas and the Bahamas Aviation Climate and Severe Weather Network (BACSWN).

The ambulances are the first of an estimated 50 bound for The Bahamas facilitated through BACSWN’s strategic alliance with Response Plus Medical (RPM), the largest pre-hospital care and emergency medical services provider in the Middle East. The first vehicles are earmarked for Cat Island, San Salvador and the islands of MICAL.

Their deployment forms part of a strategic collaboration between RPM and BACSWN to strengthen the country’s emergency response capabilities to meet to resolve the glaring deficiencies in its mandatory obligations under the Chicago Convention.

The ambulances will be fitted with modern medical equipment and safety features to improve emergency medical services across the archipelago.

Robert Dupuch-Carron, BACSWN founder, said: “We promised they would be here before Christmas and thanks to Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, Founder-Chairman of Burjeel Holdings and Board Member of RPM, and Dr Rohil Raghavan, Chief Executive Officer of RPM, they are. So we can all say with pride: so said, so done.”

BACSWN has been tasked by the Government of The Bahamas with establishing the Caribbean’s first NextGen Meteorological Watch Office. The facility will have the capacity to track flights in real time, coordinate crash response and search and rescue operations, and provide live meteorological updates affecting flight and vessel movements across the country’s 173,000 square miles of archipelagic airspace.

The initiative is intended to support the safe, efficient and timely movement of commercial, cargo and private aircraft operating within The Bahamas’ sovereign airspace, in keeping with the country’s binding obligations under the International Civil Aviation Organization.