A doctor couple from Kalyan, Maharashtra, flying from Perth to Singapore, recently saved the life of a 65-year-old Australian co-passenger named Annie who fell unconscious during the flight.

The flight attendants made an announcement seeking medical help from any doctors on board. Dr Nitin and Dr Neeta Zabak volunteered to help and made efforts to revive the woman with the limited resources available on board. The couple was returning from a vacation in Australia in the Singapore airlines flight on Thursday. The couple runs the City MultiCare Hospital in Kalyan.

Annie was given cardiopulmonary resuscitation and chest compressions. The doctors provided oxygen to increase her blood pressure. They also gave her sublingual sorbitrate, aspirin, and sprayed a glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) spray under her tongue so that her blood vessels could widen to allow easy blood flow. They monitored the woman for the next three hours as they feared some heart-related problem.

Dr Nitin said that the patient’s pulse was very feeble and inserting a special IV line with the help of only the torchlight of a mobile phone was difficult. However, his wife, Dr Neeta, is a child specialist and has the experience of inserting IV line for children. She managed it in the first attempt.

The doctors were asked by the aircraft captain if an emergency landing was required in Uluru, but they believed that they could make it to Singapore without a major episode.

The doctor stated that the cabin crew informed them that making an emergency landing would be inconvenient and 300 passengers would have to be kept in a hotel and put on an alternative flight.

Considering that the aircraft had ICU equipment and medicines for treatment, the doctors decided to continue with the patient’s treatment on board. Her condition improved and the flight reached Changi airport in Singapore around 2:30 am. She was then taken to a hospital for further treatment.

Dr Neeta stated that the Singapore airline staff gave them a standing ovation. They boarded a flight to Mumbai on Friday and reached early on Saturday. She added that they received a message from Annie and her friend Janie stating that her condition was good.

The hospital where Annie was admitted, said that she suffered from hypoxia and it was not cardiac arrest, as feared by the doctors.