Emirates' onboard healthcare facilities on long-haul flights are now significantly boosted.
Emirates’ cabin crew can now obtain clinically-accurate vital signs data from a passenger who has taken ill in flight, with the introduction of the new passenger health monitoring system, Tempus, from UK-based Remote Diagnostic Technologies Ltd (RDT).
Tempus records a passenger’s blood pressure, pulse rate, temperature, electrocardiogram (ECG), blood oxygen and carbon dioxide levels.
The data is then sent via the inflight communications system to emergency medical specialists at the Medlink Response Centre in Phoenix, USA, who can diagnose the problem and advise the crew on the best course of action.
Emirates is among three airlines worldwide who have purchased the technology, with a number of others expected to follow suit shortly.
Dr Cliff Webster, Emirates' Senior Vice President Medical Services, said: "Emirates takes the health and safety of its passengers very seriously. We are confident that with Tempus our customers will receive the best medical care currently available on board aircraft today.
"The system enables medical teams on the ground to differentiate between a serious and a minor medical condition, which will reassure an ill passenger.”
The Tempus is now installed in all Emirates' Airbus A340-500 aircraft which are currently operating services between Dubai and New York, Osaka, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland and Christchurch.
The unit will be fitted into the Airbus A380-800 aircraft and the long-range Boeing 777s currently on order.
RDT Managing Director Graham Murphy said: “We are delighted to have this opportunity to work with Emirates. Tempus enables fast, informed medical decisions to be taken, ensuring passengers and their families receive the highest quality of medical care.”
Emirates' pursers and senior flight stewards are fully trained in the use of the Tempus monitoring system, which sends high-resolution pictures of the passenger to the ground-based medical team in order to help with diagnosis and first-aid treatment.
Emirates crew can contact the medical team on the ground by satellite telephone from either the flight deck or a seat phone no matter where they are flying around the globe. Physicians manning the 24-hour Medlink service will advise and guide crew or a medically-qualified onboard volunteer on how best to help the passenger.
In addition to helping with the immediate situation, Medlink will continue to monitor the situation on board until the aircraft reaches its destination.
About Emirates
Since its launch in 1985, Emirates Airline has received more than 280 international awards in recognition of its efforts to provide unsurpassed levels of customer service.
The airline has experienced rapid and consistent growth, above 20 per cent a year on average and has been profitable for the last 18 consecutive years. Financially self-sustained and unprotected, Emirates carried 12.5 million passengers in the 2004-05 financial year – 2.1 million more than the year before - and declared a record US$637 million profit, an increase of 49 per cent over the previous year, on revenue of US$4.9 billion – US$1.3 billion more, or 36 per cent better than the year before.
Emirates is the world’s second most profitable and among the 20 largest international airlines. It is based in Dubai, one of the few cities in the world that pursues an open-skies policy, with more than 110 airlines in free and fair competition.
About Remote Diagnostic Technologies Ltd
Founded in 1997 and based out of offices near Basingstoke in the UK, RDT specialises in the development of leading-edge diagnostic devices for use by non-experts in remote locations. The company has built a strong in-house regulatory, engineering and design capability and has significant experience in medical data transmission off aircraft, backed up by extensive test and performance data.
RDT has a successful track record of specialising in:
• The design of highly integrated products for both non-expert and
expert use on an intermittent basis
• Medical device, design, manufacturing and marketing regulatory approval on a systems basis (CE and FDA)
• Sophisticated telemedicine and communications integration skills (GSM, POTS, ADR, VoIP for Satellite, Ethernet, Other Wireless)
• Wireless and wired broadband connections from remote and moving platforms such as aircraft, boats and oil platforms
• Specialist low bandwidth communications skills for voice,
data, video and text
• Certification and design capabilities for on aircraft use
