Call for helicopter service to deal with rural illnesses

THE country’s four Irish Coast Guard helicopters should be allowed to respond to heart attack and illness calls where patients are in isolated areas, a medical consultant said yesterday.

The coast guard’s role is one of search and rescue and does not deal with sudden illnesses or road traffic accidents, except in exceptional circumstances.

But it does respond to illness calls on the islands off the coast, as the islands are treated the same as vessels at sea.