An hour into Vistara’s Delhi-Doha flight on November 2, Dr Nadeem Jilani got alerted when an announcement was made to check if there was a doctor on board. A passenger had fallen unconscious in the lavatory and he lay on the floor near it frothing at the mouth, prompting the call from the crew. Dr Jilani, who was returning home in Qatar after attending his elder brother’s funeral in Aligarh, immediately identified himself and gave basic life support that saved the passenger, reports The Times of India on November 6.
Grateful crew members thanked the paediatrician for “being on duty even while travelling” in a unique way – by first upgrading him to the business class and then lining up on either side of the aisle to give a “standing ovation” when he was disembarking at Doha.
“An airhostess escorted me to the front section. An unconscious and unresponsive passenger was on the
ground, with half of his body still inside the toilet. He was not breathing, there was some froth at the side of his mouth. I promptly started CPR and he became responsive after about 30 seconds with a moan and then opened his eyes,” Dr Jilani was reported as saying. The doctor, who is originally from Darbhanga in Bihar, asked the crew to raise his legs to increase blood supply to the brain and the heart. “Gradually he started coming around.
“We gave him a sugary drink. I always have a stethoscope and a BP recorder in my handbag. His BP, unrecordable initially, normalised in 15-20 minutes. He started talking and identified himself as Santosh from Hyderabad and currently working in Doha,” the doctor said. “I kept monitoring him and was happy that he could walk by the time the flight landed. It was such a satisfying feeling.”