COVERING A PROVINCE
The helicopter is permanently stationed at the helipad of AZ Sint-Jan hospital, the largest hospital in Bruges and a major regional medical center. From this central location within the province, the MUG-helicopter can reach any point in West Flanders within 15 minutes. Large portions of neighboring East Flanders and the adjacent Dutch province of Zeeland are also within an acceptable response window.
Speed is what makes the helicopter so valuable. After receiving a dispatch call from the 112 emergency center, the helicopter can be airborne in approximately five minutes. Once in the air, it covers roughly three kilometres per minute — equivalent to 180 km/h (112 mph). A ground-based MUG vehicle, by contrast, starts quicker (around two minutes) but averages only about one kilometre per minute (37 mph) on roads. The conclusion is clear: for any incident more than 10 kilometres away as the crow flies, the helicopter consistently arrives faster than any vehicle on the road. It operates every day of the year from
58 July/Aug 2026
sunrise to sunset, with an operational window extending from roughly 08:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. during long summer days. Night operations are not currently part of its mandate.
IMDH MISSIONS
The IMDH’s primary mission is to keep the MUG helicopter operational, but its work extends further. It organizes first-aid training and medical education courses across both West and East Flanders, and provides medical teams at large public events to ensure rapid on-site response. It is, in short, an organization entirely devoted to closing the gap between the moment an emergency occurs and the moment qualified medical care arrives.
FLYING EMERGENCY ROOM The
dispatch center of assesses the emergency.
unit for a given area is already occupied or when multiple simultaneous medical teams are needed. Every flight carries a crew of three: a professional pilot, a specialized emergency physician from AZ Sint-Jan’s emergency department, and a specialized emergency nurse with qualifications in intensive care and emergency nursing. This is the legal minimum crew requirement for a MUG service in Belgium.
each
incident and decides whether to deploy the air unit based on the nature and location
It is
particularly effective in rural areas that are harder to access by road; it is also deployed when the ground-based MUG
The medical equipment on board mirrors that of ground-based MUG vehicles exactly: a defibrillator, a full resuscitation and intubation kit, a comprehensive range of emergency medications, monitoring equipment, and everything needed for hospital-level acute stabilization at the scene. In practical terms, the helicopter is a flying emergency department. Beyond emergency response, it also performs planned inter-hospital patient transports, participating in a broader network of pre- hospital and critical care logistics.
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