Mumbai: Army doctor saves passenger’s life on flight

Major Simrat Rajdeep Singh

An Army doctor saved the life of a 27-year-old critically ill man onboard a Pune-Chandigarh flight by resuscitating him, giving emergency medicines and also requested for an emergency landing in Mumbai. Major Simrat Rajdeep Singh, a medical officer with the Western Command Hospital, Chandimandir, Haryana, said while he was travelling from Pune to Chandigarh by an Indigo flight on Monday, a co-passenger, who boarded in Goa, started experiencing respiratory distress mid-air at an altitude of 39,000 feet.

"I asked about the previous medical history of the patient, who was from Belgaum, from his brother who was also travelling with him. The medical reports showed the patient has small kidneys with poor renal function," Singh said. Clinically, the patient was in "fluid overload" and was getting drowsy. He also had accelerated hypertension, tachycardia, tachypnoea and he gradually started gasping, the medical officer said. The crew had most of the necessary equipment and drugs available in their emergency kit, he said.

Singh said he administered the required drugs to the patient through intravenous line access and kept him on continuous oxygen support for an hour. He also requested the flight captain to lower the altitude and make an emergency landing at the nearest placey. As Mumbai was the nearest airport, the flight made an emergency landing here. The patient was rushed to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation-run R N Cooper Hospital.Singh said he spoke to the doctor treating the man. An emergency dialysis was conducted on him and he was feeling better, he added.

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