29 August,2015 03:35 PM IST | | Neha LM Tripathi
The senior citizen was lying on an aerobridge, when the two staffers who were returning to their cabin crew centre after operating a flight, swung into action and resuscitated him
Two crewmembers of an airline managed to revive a senior citizen, a passenger of another company, who had fallen unconscious at the domestic airport, recently. The incident took place on August 25, when at around 11.15 am, Mukundrao Panshikar (76), a passenger of Air India arriving from Nagpur, suddenly fell unconscious on an aerobridge.
Arshee Khan and Rayomand Sidhwa, the two crewmembers, who revived the passenger
Two crewmembers of GoAir were returning to their cabin crew centre along with team members, when they saw him lying unconscious between Bay A-8 and A-9. The two, Rayomand Sidhwa and Arshee Khan, had returned after operating their flight G8 368 from Ahmedabad.
"They saw some airport staff and passengers trying to make some calls to get medical assistance and swung into action," said an airport official at Terminal 1A. He further added, "They rushed to evaluate the passenger's state, and found his pulse and breathing missing.
They realised he had suffered a cardiac arrest and immediately started cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and continued doing so for over 5 minutes until the passenger revived," he added. An MIAL official confirmed that Sidhwa and Khan continued to be with the passenger and made him comfortable until medical aid arrived.
The ground staff claimed that the senior citizen was revived due to the GoAir's crewmembers' presence of mind, as medical assistance from the terminal arrived about 12 minutes after he was revived. An MIAL official said, "After he regained consciousness, the passenger was looked after by his colleague who had come to receive him.
The passenger's friend insisted on a check up done by his own doctor. The passenger was therefore allowed to leave after signing the on-duty doctor's medical report." His friend said the passenger, Mukundrao Panshikar, head of RSS' Dharma Jagran Samanway Samiti, was admitted to the ICU of Sushrusha Hospital for a day and released.
His reports are awaited. Commenting on the incident, a Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official said, "As per the DGCA requirements, all cabin crew complete safety training course that includes a week's training for first aid, for which practicals are performed on a dummy.
The training concludes with a written test as well as a viva, which the crew ought to pass with minimum 80 per cent. This is a recurrent training that takes place every year. They are taught to handle minor medical emergencies on board, major medical emergencies like breathlessness and handling CPR.
Hence the crewmembers are able to handle such situations." Dr Richa Savla, a physician and founder of RADHEE, a disaster and education foundation working in disaster management, talking about the importance of immediate medical care said, "When it comes to CPR and first aid, there is a concept of platinum 10 minutes, just like the golden hour."
