Plans for a Heliport on the Vltava Worth CZK 10 Million to Help Prague Hospitals

The Ministry of Health, in cooperation with Prague and the State Navigation Administration, is preparing to open a unique Czech heliport that will sail on the Vltava.

The floating heliport will be built on the river below Vyšehrad to help hospitals in Prague due to a lack of space in the center by transporting patients to three Prague medical facilities in urgent cases.

The new heliport would take patients to the General University Hospital on Karlovo náměstí, to the Institute for the Care of Mother and Child in Podolí, and to the similar facility near Prague’s Apolinář.

None of these hospitals has a suitable landing area, so rescuers must improvise if necessary.

Helicopter landing pads on the water are already common in Australia, and a similar heliport on the Thames is used for the rescue service.

However, there is no experience with anything similar in the Czech Republic yet.

The problem with the air transport of patients is one of the biggest problems in Prague.

Hospitals located in historic buildings do not have space for the construction of safe landing areas, the construction of a heliport is not possible even on the roof.

Now, in urgent cases, helicopters are landing in Zítkovy sady in front of the Emmaus Monastery which is not easy.

“It is necessary to ask the police for cooperation, because of course people move there and the place needs to be ensured that the landing is safe,” said Jana Poštová, a spokeswoman for the Prague Rescue Service.

“Our ambulance is always parked there, which will bring the patient to the destination facility.”

There are dozens of such cases a year, the total number of take-offs by the Prague Air Rescue Service is about five hundred.

“Various areas have been offered in Prague, such as football fields, but if such an area should meet the legislative conditions and get permission from the Civil Aviation Authority, the construction of a pontoon on the river is the only rational option,” said Eva Smržová, from the health care department.

Currently, the plan for the construction of the heliport on the Vltava is only at the beginning.

A feasibility study was prepared, which verified that a project worth about CZK 10 million could be created in this location.