Helicopter Emergency Medical Service

The civil Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) began operating on March 30, 2024, parallel from four bases – Osijek, Rijeka, Split and Zagreb, effectively covering the entire territory of the Republic of Croatia, including islands, remote and rural areas. HEMS services in the continental part of Croatia are available during daylight hours, while in the Adriatic region, they are available 24 hours a day. The medical crew members, physician and a bachelor’s or master’s degree nurse are provided by the Teaching Institute of Emergency Medicine of the City of Zagreb and the institutes of emergency medicine of the Osijek-Baranja, Primorje-Gorski Kotar, and Split-Dalmatia counties, depending on the location of the helicopter base. The helicopters and non-medical crew ensure the HEMS service provider– the consortium consisting of EliFriulia S.p.A., Eliance Helicopter Global Services SL, and Eli-Adriatik d.o.o., selected based on an international public tender.

When selecting the base locations, numerous relevant factors were taken into account, including the existing aviation infrastructure and the available resources for the operation of the bases by European Union regulations, as well as the existing infrastructure for helicopter landing and take-off in close vicinity of hospital centres that have the personnel and equipment to provide the highest level of health care to life-threatening patients, specifically the university hospital centres of Rijeka, Osijek and Split and the Dubrava University Hospital. That ensures the best health outcomes for emergency patients, and this practice is common in other European countries.