KUALA LUMPUR: The swift action and response by a doctor in providing first aid and emergency medical response to a senior citizen who was in distress during a recent flight from Malaysia to India perhaps saved her life.
The incident happened on Friday (Dec 1) as Dr Sathia Prakash was on a flight from Malaysia to Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India, to attend an awards and recognition ceremony for International Media Practitioners there. Sharing what happened during the incident on his Facebook page, Dr Sathia said the incident took place about 30 minutes before the aircraft was scheduled to land at the Chennai International Airport in Tamil Nadu.
"On that fateful night I was travelling on the plane to Chennai from Kuala Lumpur when an emergency situation occur suddenly in the aircraft."An elderly woman who was 80 years-old and on her way back to her hometown in Bangalore suddenly started sweating and fainted.
"I have the habit of always bringing my stethoscope along with me wherever I go as it can come in handy and be very useful in emergency situations where it can enable me to provide an initial or early diagnosis for emergency medical treatment. "Therefore I would like to humbly implore that airlines provide medical examination utensils and equipment such as stethoscope, blood pressure monitor, pulse oximeter and other relevant emergency medical equipment on board commercial aircraft, airliners.
"Such equipment is necessary in the event of a medical emergency when the aircraft is in flight," he said. It is understood that during the incident, there were a few members of the media from Malaysia who were on the flight together with Dr Sathia Prakash and they managed to take some pictures of what happened.
Dr Sathia's swift response and action in attending to the elderly passenger earned praise from the other passengers who commended him." Now this is a doctor who always serves those who are sick just about anywhere regardless of the scenario or situation," was among some of the comments from netizens after watching the video of the incident which has since gone viral.