HALIFAX -- A recent decision by Transport Canada has left the Nova Scotia government scrambling to replace the emergency helicopter that transports patients to the rooftop helipads at hospitals in Halifax and Digby.
Health Minister Leo Glavine says Emergency Health Services, which operates the LifeFlight helicopter, was informed April 1 that its Sikorsky S-76A doesn't have the certification level now required by Transport Canada regulations to land on the helipads at the Halifax Infirmary, the IWK Health Centre and the Digby General Hospital.
Glavine says the helicopter is now landing in Halifax at a certified helipad near Point Pleasant Park and at a parking lot at the Halifax airport.
In Digby it is landing at the nearby airport.
Glavine says the hunt is now underway for a helicopter that will be able to land on the hospital helipads.
He says the current lease for the helicopter service costs $3.6 million a year and a final cost for the replacement lease won't be known until a new helicopter is found.
