SEOUL: South Korean doctors aboard a flight to the Philippines helped save a passenger who was unable to breathe, one of the physicians said on April 2.
Dr Kim Jeong-hwan, a professor of family medicine at Gangnam Eulji Medical Centre, wrote on Facebook that a passenger fell seriously ill on a flight from Incheon to Manila on March 24. The passenger’s pulse was dropping, and she was struggling to breathe.
Prof Kim was travelling to a conference with other members of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine.
The doctors used a laryngeal mask to intubate the passenger, and a self inflating bag to stabilise her breathing. They also fitted an intravenous drip.
“I felt her breathing weaken and used the Ambu bag to assist ventilation. Her pulse dropped, and I worried about cardiac arrest,” wrote.
The patient’s breathing and pulse eventually stabilised, and the doctors continued monitoring her for the remainder of the flight.
Her condition stabilised, and she was transferred to medical staff upon arrival in the Philippines.
“I had responded to calls for a doctor during flights before, but it is rare to encounter a patient in such a serious condition,” Prof Kim said.
“It was even more unusual that several doctors on their way to a conference were on board at the same time,” he added. - The Korea Herald/ANN
