Army doctor turns saviour for ill man onboard Chandigarh-bound flight

Mumbai, June 18

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 he started gasping, the medical officer said.

The crew had most of the necessary equipment and drugs available in their medical emergency kit, he said.

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 made an emergency landing here. Preparations were made in the meantime to rush the patient to hospital as soon as the flight landed, he said.

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

“Maj Simrat Rajdeep Singh of #WesternCommandHospital,Chandimandir while on board @Indigo6E724 from Goa to Chandigarh saved the life of a 27-year-old critically ill patient. He resuscitated the patient and requested for an emergency landing at #Mumbai,” Indian Army’s Western Command said in a post on X on Monday.

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.