IA diverts flight, saves Pakistani baby
A 10-day-old critically ill Pakistani baby, who developed complications on board an Indian Airlines flight while being taken to Bangalore for treatment, was saved after the pilot made an emergency landing in Hyderabad.
Asma Khan and her baby, Muhammed, who was born with a heart ailment, arrived in Delhi by a PIA flight from Lahore on Wednesday. They were accompanied by the baby’s uncle, Zahoor Ahmed Khan.
All three took the 8 pm Indian Airlines flight the same day to Bangalore where the infant was to undergo heart surgery at Narayana Hrudayalaya (where Baby Noor was operated upon).
The plane took off on time but the infant’s condition deteriorated en route. Said Zahoor Ahmed: “Muhammed was all right when the flight took off but later his body turned blue.”
On the crew’s request, a doctor who was travelling on the flight, G Jayadevappa, examined the infant with the first-aid equipment available on board. The doctor felt that the infant needed to be taken to hospital immediately.
Said the flight’s commander Sanjeev Marwah: “We were just 50 nautical miles from Hyderabad while Bangalore was 50 minutes away. Dr Jayadevappa said the baby’s condition was deteriorating rapidly and there was no time to be lost.”
Marwah took immediate action and landed the aircraft in Hyderabad within 10 minutes of taking the decision. The flight landed at 10 pm and an Airports Authority of India ambulance was on standby. The child was taken to the Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) because it was close to the airport.
Indian Airlines spokesperson Anup Srivastava told the Hindustan Times, “Considering the child’s condition, the pilot, crew and ground staff took the right decision to land at Hyderabad.”
The quick action probably saved Muhammed’s life. By Thursday evening, he was discharged from KIMS after his condition had stabilised.
Dr Bhaskar Rao, the chief cardiothoracic surgeon at KIMS told the Hindustan Times that the child suffered from “transposition of the great arteries”. The condition resulted in impure blood entering the baby’s body and fresh blood going into the lungs. It is the other way round in a healthy person.
The doctors immediately administered prostaglandin and the child recovered. Though KIMS had the expertise and the doctors were willing to conduct the operation free of cost, Muhammed’s guardians insisted they had already made plans to go to Narayana Hridayalaya.
KIMS then provided a doctor and a nurse to accompany the child on the flight to Bangalore. “They acted very promptly. I have no words to thank them,” said Zahoor Ahmed.
Though the flight was delayed by more than an hour — it finally landed in Bangalore at 11.35 p.m. instead of the scheduled 10.20 pm — the passengers appreciated the pilot’s decision to divert the aircraft.http://hindustantimes.com/news/5922_916475,0015002200000000.htm
