How timely help from medical team at Mumbai Airport saved a passenger's life

While there have been several instances where doctors of Mumbai International Airport have given timely aid to passengers in need, one such recent example would be about a 67 year old passenger, who suffered an acute heart attack.

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The discipline of practicing medical care in the aviation space is a special area of practice which isn’t often highlighted in the mainstream discussions. It involves the clinical care and operational support provided to the passengers and the crew members. In this regard, the distinctive role of the resident doctors at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) deserves to be highlighted, in terms of keeping the healthcare machinery at one of one of the busiest Indian airports up and running. Not just CSMIA, but medical professionals across airports in India act as unsung heroes.

There have been several instances where doctors of CSMIA have given timely aid to passengers in need. One such recent example would be of a 67-yr-old male passenger, who was travelling from Mumbai to Dubai. The passenger complained of having episodes of fainting along with uneasiness and profuse sweating. The medical history revealed that the passenger had Diabetes, Hypertension & Ischemic Heart Disease and had undergone angioplasty surgery 12 years ago.

Post careful clinical examination by the CSMIA Medical team, the passenger was suspected to have Acute Heart Attack (Acute Inferior wall Myocardial Infarction) along with high blood sugar levels and heart failure. Immediately emergency medications were administered to the passenger, and he was advised urgent hospitalisation along with a consultation from a Cardiologist.

Since the passenger was travelling alone, his son was contacted and informed about his condition. After his son’s consent, the passenger was shifted to Nanavati hospital through Airport Cardiac ambulance, and he was accompanied by the airline staff & Airport Medical team. Early Investigations at Nanavati Hospital revealed that the passenger had 100% blockage in the Right Coronary artery along with a few blockages in the Left Circumflex coronary artery for which angioplasty was conducted timely. The passenger post-surgery recovered well and thanked CSMIA’s medical team for their early diagnosis and their prompt decision making skills which helped save his life.

Between 2010 and 2020, the CSMIA medical team has attended over 2,06,238 medical cases. Of these, about 2,600 cases were severe medical emergencies, who were immediately shifted to nearby hospitals by CSMIA Airport ambulances. On an average Doctors at CSMIA handle about 60 to 80 patients daily and about 1,800 to 2,400 patients monthly.

At any given point of time, there are five doctors available at CSMIA- 02 at Terminal-1 and 03 at Ternimal-2. CSMIA currently has the highest number of medical-relief centres (With 04 medical centres and 03 first-aid centres) than any airport has in India, which are operational 24x7 and are located at key locations at the airport.

It also is the only airport to have the largest number of Automated External Defibrillator (AED) - 119 AEDs installed at various strategic locations of the terminal where the retrieval time of nearest AED is not more than 03 minutes when a passenger collapses with Sudden Cardiac Arrest.

CSMIA is also the only Indian Airport to have 07 ambulances (04 Advanced Life Support & 03 Basic life Support/Crash) available at the airport on 24x7 basis. All Airport Medical Centers and First Aid Centers are available 24x7.