Army doctor saves life of critically ill man, 27, onboard IndiGo flight

Mangalore Today News Network

Mumbai, June 18, 2024: An Army doctor saved the life of a 27-year-old critically ill man onboard a Pune-Chandigarh flight by resuscitating him, giving him emergency medicines and also requesting 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 on 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," Major Singh told PTI over the phone on Tuesday.

Clinically, the patient was in "fluid overload" and was getting drowsy. He also had accelerated hypertension, tachycardia, and tachypnoea and he gradually started gasping, the medical officer said.

He said the crew had most of the necessary equipment and drugs in their medical emergency kit.

Major Singh said he administered the required emergency 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 place, as Chandigarh was still two hours away.

Since Mumbai was the nearest airport, the flight immediately landed here. He said preparations were made to rush the patient to hospital as soon as the flight landed.

The patient was rushed to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation-run R N Cooper Hospital.

Major Simrat Rajdeep Singh of the Western Command Hospital, Chandimandir while on board an IndiGo flight from Goa to Chandigarh saved the life of a 27-year-old critically ill patient. He resuscitated the patient & requested for an emergency landing at Mumbai," Indian Army’s Western Command said in a post on X on Monday.

Major Singh said he spoke to the doctor treating the man here. An emergency dialysis was conducted on him and he was feeling better, he added.

Courtesy: NDTV