Thailand is developing a new kind of emergency service that will allow authorities to fly critically-ill patients to hospitals. Patients will be able to use the service free of charge, as CGTN's Martin Lowe reports.

The use of helicopters for emergency medical flights is rare in Thailand. It's mostly been limited to military evacuations and patient transfers paid for by private insurance, as shown in this hospital video. But now Thailand is to develop a national helicopter emergency service, available to all. The plan is to establish a network of around a hundred aircraft from the private sector, military and police.

DR. ATCHARIYA PANGMA, SECRETARY GENERAL THAI NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR EMERGENCY MEDICINE "In case of an emergency patient who gets injured or sick anywhere in Thailand, if they call 1669 it's a free service and also for tourists it's also free."

Advice on types of aircraft and equipment and training of so-called Sky Doctors will be given by the European Union, where many countries operate air ambulance services.

HENRIK HOLOLEI, DIRECTOR GENERAL MOBILITY AND TRANSPORT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION "Here you have a lot of people die from road accidents and if they can get medical assistance in a short period of time perhaps some of them can be saved."

Laws will need to be changed to allow medical flights to land at the scene of accidents and disasters – at present aircraft are heavily restricted where they can fly in Thailand.

MARTIN LOWE BANGKOK "This is an important development – Thailand has good medical facilities, but getting a patient quickly to hospital is less assured. There's no national ambulance service here and people rely on local volunteers. Developing an air ambulance capability will be a valuable addition to emergency care."

Emergency medical flights have taken place in remote areas, where patients would otherwise have died during long road journeys. The aim now is to create an emergency system available right across the country. Martin Lowe, CGTN, Bangkok.