Doctor-Heli Network

SPIN DOCTORS

Japan has been gradually extending the coverage of the Doctor-Heli emergency medical services (EMS) network since its inauguration at a hospital in Okayama Prefecture in April 2001. In conjunction with the introduction of a varied fleet of helicopters equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, a great deal of investment has been made in infrastructure to support and facilitate the organisation’s highly specialized operations. As at the end of August 2018, the network comprises a total of more than 50 helicopters that are operational for 57 hospitals in 42 prefectures, the most recent operation being that covering the southern part of Niigata Prefecture, which started operations in late March 2017. 

 The NishiNippon Airlines BK117C-2 with which operations revolving around Oita University Hospital’s
Emergency & Critical Care Center were inaugurated in October 2012. (Photo: Takao Kadokami)

The Hirata Gakuen-operated EC135P2+ assigned to the Hyogo Prefectural Medical Center, Kakogawa, in mid-December 2015. (Kishuji Rapid via Wikimedia Commons)

This section will provide information about Doctor-Heli aircraft and unit case studies.

As will be seen, several operations utilize aircraft from the major Japanese fleet operators, which means that helicopters can be rotated to different locations as required. To compensate for this, the first tables included below attempt to list all the aircraft that have ever been operated in official Doctor-Heli guise by the five main operators.

These are followed by tables showing the participating hospitals by prefecture. The listings for five prefectures (Kagoshima (two), Kochi, Tochigi, Yamagata and Yamanashi), include details of their operators and assigned aircraft.

All these tables will eventually be moved to a separate Data File page.

Kawasaki Helicopter System’s MBB/Kawasaki BK117A-4 Doctor-Heli demonstrator JA9699 visited JGSDF Kasumigaura, Ibaraki Prefecture,in April 2002.

Based at the Dokkyo Medical University Hospital in Mibu, Tochigi Prefecture, this Eurocopter EC135P2 is a typical example of the equipment currently operated by the Doctor-Heli Network.

Plastic fans are a popular PR device in the hot summers in Japan, and Doctor-Heli Tochigi adopted this design in 2013. The reverse side includes a request for public cooperation and details about the organization; subjects that will be covered in greater detail on this page of J-HangarSpace.

(All photographs on this website are copyright J-HangarSpace
unless otherwise stated.) 

Doctor-Heli Network: Major Fleet Operator Tables

Aero Asahi-operated MD 902 Explorer JA6909 overflies Nagoya airport in August 2013.
(Photo: Alec Wilson via Wikimedia Commons)

MBB/Kawasaki BK117C-2 JA117R was the Aero Asahi aircraft assigned to the Maebashi Red Cross Hospital in Gunma Prefecture in 2013. These photographs show the aircraft in flight at
Nagoya airport in August 2013 and about to depart Gunma Heliport the following month.
(Photos: [above] Alec Wilson via Wikimedia Commons; [below] J-HangarSpace)

 

Seen here at Nagoya airport in August 2013, JA9979 was already 18 years old when acquired
by Central Helicopter Services in 2007. (Photo: Alec Wilson via Wikimedia Commons) 

A CHS pilot manoeuvres one of the company’s fleet of BK117s (one again, ‘C-1 JA9979) at dusk at Nagoya in December 2011. (Photo: Kentaro Iemoto via Wikimedia Commons)

 The EC135P2+ JA806H operated by Hirata Gakuen for the local Urasoe General Hospital prepares to land at the U.S. Marine Corps’ Camp Kinser, Okinawa, in late October 2014. The helicopter was being used to ferry in “casualties” during Exercise Constant Vigilance 2014, in which SDF and U.S. military units as well as civilian agencies tested their cooperative procedures in response to a simulated tsunami. (Photo: U.S. Marine Corps/Sgt. Matthew Manning)

Serving the Kushiro City General Hospital and the Kushiro Kojinkai Memorial Hospital, this Nakanihon-operated EC135 was photographed at the Masyuu Kosei Hospital in the town of Teshikaga, Hokkaido, on July 1, 2011. (Photo: Chatama via Wikimedia Commons)

 NishiNippon BK117C-2 JA016W was a present at a rainswept Fukuoka airport on August 30, 2013.
(Photo: Alec Wilson via Wikimedia Commons) 

Two Central Helicopter Service BK117s photographed at Kawasaki Medical School Hospital in Kanagawa Prefecture. (Above) BK117C-1 JA9979 in September 2006, and (below)
BK117C-2 JA117K cooling off in September 2007.
(Photos: [above] Nissy-KITAK and [below] tatushin, both via Wikimedia Commons)

Doctor-Heli Network by Prefecture

 Nakanihon Air Service (since July 2020 NAKANIHON AIR) EC135P1 JA113D is brought in for a
 landing at Tsurumai Park in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, in January 2008. The imposing building
in the background is the Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, which is affiliated
with the aircraft’s assigned base, Aichi Medical University Hospital.
(Photo: KAMUI via Wikimedia Commons)

 

A Nakanihon-operated EC135P1 photographed during a joint exercise with Aomori Prefecture
disaster relief units at Hirosaki University of Health & Welfare in August 2018.
(Photo: Hirosaki University of Health & Welfare Student PR Group via Twitter @hirosakijggkg1)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) in Gifu, a BK117C-2 operated by Central Helicopter
Service overflies Gifu University Hospital, the network facility in Gifu Prefecture. (Photo: KHI)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Basking in the sun on the Tokai Universiry Hospital helipad on July 25, 2008, was Aero Asahi-operated
BK117C-2 JA6917. This aircraft was involved in an accident when landing at Hadano,
Kanagawa Prefecture on August 8, 2016.
(Photo: Cassiopeia_sweet via Wikimedia Commons)

 

 

 

 

The NishiNippon BK117C-2 assigned to the network hospital in Miyazaki Prefecture, which commenced
Doctor-Heli operations on April 1, 2012, made a publicity visit to the Nyutabaru air show
held in December of that year. (Photo: Takao Kadokami)

 

 

 

 

 

A detail from of the NishiNippon Airlines BK117C-2 JA017W photo that appears at the top of this page.
(Photo: Takao Kadokami)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The image that accompanied the March 4, 2015, AgustaWestland press release announcing the
selection of the Grand New for the Toyama operation, which commenced in
August 2015. (Photo: AgustaWestland)