A 69-year-old doctor from Mysuru, who saved the life of an elderly person travelling on board an Air France flight from Paris and Bengaluru last month, has received a special thanks and a gift voucher from the airline.
Prabhulingaswamy Sanganalmath, a retired government physician, who runs a family clinic at Kuvempunagar here, was on the Air France flight to Bengaluru from Paris on November 13, when his professional services were needed to save a life.
An European senior citizen on the flight collapsed and Dr. Sanganalmath responded to the cabin crew’s request for medical assistance. “I was perhaps the only doctor travelling. There was a nurse in the flight who assisted me,” recalled Dr. Sanganalmath.
“There was no pulse and he was not breathing,” said the doctor.
He did a cardiac massage, followed by a resuscitation process, with the support of the nurse.
“The air hostesses brought the emergency health kit and oxygen tank. The oxygen supplemented resuscitation was carried out,” the doctor said. The patient started speaking and drank juice after a couple of hours. “The patient was under observation until the flight landed in Bengaluru and was then taken to the airport clinic for further examination,” he said.
“The flight captain came to me and expressed his gratitude for my help. Next day I got a message from Vincent Feuillie of Air France Passenger Medical Service thanking me for the medical assistance. Now, the airline has offered me a voucher worth 100 Euros as a token of appreciation,” said the doctor, adding that he had done no more than his duty.
