I would not like to run a company commercially performing rescue operations – said Jan Krzysztof's volunteer emergency service. After the TOPR helicopter failure, there was a discussion on social media about the need to introduce payments for shares for the injured.
Key facts:
- One of the TOPR rescue helicopter engines broke down during exercise. Emergency landing was necessary.
- In social media, there was a discussion regarding whether the injured should have a policy purchased or cover the costs of the rescue operation themselves.
- The enthusiast of such a solution is not the head of TOPR Jan Krzysztof. He explained why.
On Thursday, during TOPR exercises, one of the Sokół helicopter engines failed. The machine, on board of which there were two pilots and two rescuers, were successfully planted at the airport of the Aero Club in Nowy Targ. However, the temporary exclusion from the use of Sokol, and at the beginning of the summer season, meant that in social media there were voices that – a model Slovakia And some Alpine countries – also in Poland, victims should either have a policy purchased or cover the costs of the rescue operation themselves.
Head of TOPR: punishment for having an accident
Jan Krzysztof, the head of the Tatra Volunteer Ambulance Service, is not an enthusiast of this solution. He emphasized that at the main cost of the operation of rescue entities – an ambulance, fire brigade or mountain rescue, is to maintain readiness. The costs of rescue operations are a small part of the budget.
– I often hear the argument that they are to pay you without a flexible. No, everyone who behaves properly and yet under the accident pays with such a solution – pointed out the head of TOPR and added that this carelessness is difficult to prove, and TOPR “would not like to spend time in court and build in the ambulance of the debt collection department.”
As Jan Krzysztof argued, TOPR has contacts with emergency services throughout Europe and outside of Europe, and they act on various principles. Hence, he knows that payment for shares does not make people more cautious and does not result in a fewer accidents.
In the head of the head, such a solution is in a sense punishing for having an accident in the mountains. “I would not like to run a company whose operation would be based on typically commercial rescue performance,” he said.
Rescuer: There are also problems in Slovakia
The activities of mountain emergency services in Poland are financed from the state budget, from admission fees to national parks (15 percent of the ticket price is transferred to rescue in a given region), as well as from the support of partners and sponsors and from voluntary transfer of 1.5 percent of the copy of income tax. – These are greater revenues to our budget than those from the payment for services in Slovakia – emphasized the head of TOPR.
He also pointed out that Slovak rescuers are struggling with serious organizational and financial problems, and the cost calculation system is very complicated. – I do not have data for the last year, but the revenues in this respect constitute a maximum of 8 percent of their budget – pointed out Krzysztof.
Tatra guide: They don't delete anyone by the sea
The next interlocutor perceives this matter, although not a lifeguard, it is also professionally associated with the Tatras. – It is a hate for people who walk in the mountains and there are accidents to them- said Jan Krzeptowski-Sabała, a guide, a tourism specialist in the Tatra National Park. He points out that such a solution could not be introduced locally. – After all, rescuers do not delete anyone at the seaside or Masuria. This would require a change in the rules of financing services throughout Poland, changes at the level of laws and ordinances – he noted.
Krzeptowski-Sabała sees one more threat in such a solution-in the event of a dangerous situation, some of the victims, not having insurance and afraid of incurring high costs, would wonder whether to call for help, which could have tragic effects.
– Rescue activities should have constant financing from several sources, not from people who became crippled or families of those who died in the mountains – he concluded.
How long will you not be able to use a TOPR helicopter?
As Jan Krzysztof said, it is still unknown how long the TOPR machine will be turned off from use. – If it turns out that this break will be longer, we have the decision of Minister Kosiniak (Władysław Kosiniak -Kamysz, deputy prime minister, minister of national defense – ed.) And we are in working contact with military aviation, with whom we have already worked many times – said the head.
As during earlier breaks in the operation of the TOPR helicopter caused, for example, by service inspections, service in Zakopane will be performed by military falcon with military air service and the TOPR rescue and medical crew on board.
Last year, TOPR helped 1330 people. About 30 percent of the shares were those using helicopter.
Invoice for rescue in the Slovak part of the Tatra Mountains
In the Slovak part of the Tatra Mountains, the costs of the rescue operation are resisted on the rescued. Horska Zacharanna Sleuzba (equivalent of our TOPR) issues an invoice to the victim, and this – if he had a policy involving the activity that resulted in an accident (e.g. trail, non -school, mountaineering, skitouring) – may apply for reimbursement of costs from the insurance company. This principle does not apply to minors and families of people who have succumbed to fatal accidents.
HZS, unlike TOPR, does not have its own helicopter. He uses Bell 429 and Agusta A109K2 machines that are part of the company's fleet, which at the request of the Slovak Ministry of Health acts as the equivalent of our Air Ambulance Service.
If it is known that the purpose of the action is to transport the body of the victim of the accident, then the helicopter of the Slovak Ministry of the Interior is sent, which is part of HZS, so that the Aviation Subcontracting Company does not charge a fee for it and not to burden it close to the victim.
Author/author: JS/LULU
Source: PAP