Mannum hospital helipad reopens
The SA Ambulance Service can once again evacuate patients by helicopter from Mannum District Hospital, but Murray Bridge is still waiting.
Residents of Mannum and surrounds can be assured of better emergency health care after the long-awaited reopening of the town’s hospital helipad.
The helipad was cleared for use by SA Health’s Medstar air ambulance service last Thursday, enabling rapid patient transfers to hospitals in Adelaide at any time of the day or night.
It had been out of action since 2024.
A site upgrade was completed in April 2025, but service operator Babcock had previously refused to sign off on the work due to changes in Australian Transport Safety Bureau regulations.
The oval at Mannum Showgrounds had been used as a landing spot for emergency patient evacuations in the meantime – a workable situation, if not an ideal one.
The news was welcomed by Health Minister Chris Picton and Labor candidate for Hammond Simone Bailey – also the Mayor of the Mid Murray district, though currently on leave.
“This provides some welcome peace of mind for Mannum residents like myself, because it means Medstar will continue to be able to urgently transfer local patients to metropolitan hospitals if it’s ever needed,” Ms Bailey said.
Mr Picton had told a public meeting in Murray Bridge in early February that the helipad would reopen “within three weeks”.
He said at the time that Murray Bridge’s helipad – which also remains out of action – would be restored to service “not too long after that”.
Liberal MP Adrian Pederick, Ms Bailey’s opponent in Hammond at this weekend’s election, had been advocating for the two helipads to be reopened for the past year.
Those efforts included appearances alongside a big inflatable helicopter at the recent Mannum Show, and in Murray Bridge last Thursday.
It was “completely outrageous” that the saga had been allowed to drag on for 18 months, he said.
“This is a vital, life-saving service,” he said.
“We need those Medstar teams … being able to land at the hospitals’ doorstep, not having retrievals where people have to be transferred in an ambulance.
“We don’t know whether anyone has lost their life or severely risked their life by not being able to be picked up by a Medstar helicopter.”
