Doctor saves flyer who had heart attack mid-air

MANGALURU: A general physician from the coast saved the life of a 55-year-old woman who suffered a heart attack mid-air on a Jeddah-Mumbai flight. Dr AK Kasim not only resuscitated the passenger, he made sure the flight didn’t have to return to Jeddah.
Kasim, from Uppala in Kasaragod, heads the health insurance department of Asian Polyclinic in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. He was flying back home for a holiday. He booked a Jet Airways flight from Jeddah to Mumbai a few days ago. The flight took off from Jeddah around 1am and soon after, the passengers fell asleep. A few hours later, the shrieks of a woman woke them up. A 55-year-old female passenger seemed to be having a heart attack.

The flight attendants immediately made an announcement asking if there were doctors on board. Kasim swung into action and offered to treat the woman after showing his identity card. The crew made all arrangements: the woman was made to lie on the aisle and a first-aid kit was brought.

Kasim found the passenger was breathless. Immediately, he started chest compressions and after a few minutes, the woman started responding and her pulse returned. “It was a proud moment for me to be in this profession,” Kasim wrote on Facebook. He is a member of the Mangaluru based M-Friends social group as well. “She (the patient) was unconscious, without pulse and was not breathing. I revived the patient, injected IV fluids, atropine, adrenaline and managed her for two hours in a conscious state and handed her over to the emergency doctor at the airport. I’m happy to say the patient was shifted to hospital by ambulance in a conscious state.”