A helicopter transfers mock wounded personnel from a frontier island to the mainland in a land-air integrated medical evacuation exercise organized by the PLA Eastern Theater Command in the summer of 2023. Photo: Screenshot from CCTV

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command recently conducted its first medical evacuation exercise featuring helicopters transferring the wounded from frontier islands to the mainland, a move experts said on Tuesday could lower casualties in potential island defense and amphibious landing missions.

On dozens of remote islands in the eastern part of East China's Zhejiang Province, a coastal defense brigade affiliated with the PLA Eastern Theater Command joined forces with an army aviation brigade and the naval hospital of the Eastern Theater Command to conduct an emergency medical helicopter rescue exercise in a move to enhance the timeliness of medical evacuations from distant islands during both peacetime and wartime, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Tuesday.

The drills simulated a hostile attack on a frontier island which led to casualties, and a medical team was tasked with a rescue mission.

After locating the wounded through drone reconnaissance, the team approached the position and carried out triage and first aid, before calling in a transport helicopter to transfer two wounded personnel who were in critical condition.

Escorted by an attack helicopter, the transport helicopter soon arrived and secured the wounded. 

Before the wounded were successfully transferred to a hospital on the mainland, measures were taken during the flight to stabilize their condition.

"This is the first time mobile air forces were introduced in a medical exercise," Su Xingliang, head of the support department at the coastal defense brigade, said in the CCTV report.

It significantly shortened the time required for a medical evacuation, and further enhanced island defense troops' medical rescue capabilities, Su said.

In military operations on remote islands, medical aid conditions are usually restricted, and medical evacuation through ocean-going vessels could be slow and cost lives. In these cases, medical evacuation by helicopter is more efficient, a Chinese military expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Reducing casualties and saving lives are a vital part of challenging island defense and amphibious landing missions, the expert said.