Asian on-demand helicopter service Ascent Flight Global has entered into a partnership with The Medical City, a healthcare provider in the Philippines. Patients and personnel of The Medical City are now only minutes away from its healthcare network by flying in and out of its facilities directly or from dedicated Ascent hubs.

The Medical City is a trusted organisation for local and international travellers and tourists in the Philippines, serving more than 50,000 inpatients and 500,000 outpatients a year. Through this partnership, patients can expect a faster and more seamless healthcare journey between facilities, free of ground transport complexities such as traffic congestion and other connectivity issues. With Ascent, passengers fly on curated aircraft from operators with stringent COVID-19 related safety protocols with an accompanying medical healthcare team during flights.

For patients, time-sensitive personnel such as surgeons and sensitive medical cargo including organs or fragile medical equipment, The Medical City in Ortigas is now only 25 minutes away from its Clark branch. The service will include only planned and coordinated medical flights at launch and includes complimentary transfers on licensed medical transport vehicles to and from the airport terminals when applicable.

“With this partnership, your healthcare dedicated service is now more efficient, convenient and seamless,” says Dr Christopher Napoleon Delos Reyes, senior VP of The Medical City. “Patients can now easily access medical air mobility services through Ascent, thereby avoiding wait times in traffic as they focus on their health. In addition, our personnel and sensitive cargo can now move more efficiently, improving the overall performance of our healthcare services.”

Ascent founder and CEO Lionel Sinai-Sinelnikoff adds: “In line with our continued focus on democratising access to air mobility, this partnership marks another step in the progress of the future of mobility in the Philippines. We are excited to save patients of The Medical City up to 85 per cent of their time in traffic, especially in a situation where minutes matter, and essentially form a safe travel bubble from the main branch of The Medical City and its wider healthcare network. This will have a tremendous impact, especially to less accessible areas where ground ambulances can take hours to get to.”

The Medical City has been consistent in giving its patients an unparalleled healthcare experience, including recent innovative initiatives such as the TMC Drive-thru Lab. Through this partnership with Ascent, The Medical City continues to elevate its healthcare ecosystem with a focus on both patient safety and experience as well as service efficiency and excellence. With Ascent, passengers and patients fly on fuel-efficient helicopters operated by curated operators such as INAEC Aviation

Corporation in the Philippines. Air operator partners of Ascent have strong safety track records, abide strictly to stringent international operational standards and are audited internationally to ensure the highest levels of safety and reliability.