Philanthropy with a health focus

Wesfarmers and Rio Tinto have cemented their positions as corporate citizens in Western Australia after both companies last week revealed separate philanthropic partnerships totalling $15.6 million.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service announced an $11.4 million partnership with Rio Tinto to establish the first emergency jet service in Australia.

The Rio Tinto Life Flight, a free community aeromedical service, will fly patients in need of evacuation when time and distance are critical.

"It is a great leap forward for the RFDS and a dream come true for people in the bush," RFDS chief executive Tim Shackleton said.

The jet service will halve the RFDS's existing turbo-prop aircraft flight time from Kununurra to Perth to just three hours.

Meanwhile, Wesfarmers said it would commit $4.5 million to establish a new medical research centre dedicated to boosting the number of cutting-edge discoveries that go from the laboratory to a patient's bedside.

The WA Institute for Medical Research said funding for the Wesfarmers Research Centre would be provided by the diversified corporation over four years.

The research centre will be initially based at WAIMR's Royal Perth Hospital campus before forming part of the institute's new state-of-the-art QEII Medical Centre in Nedlands and the Fiona Stanley Hospital in Murdoch.