South Korean doctors aboard a flight to the Philippines helped save a passenger who was unable to breathe, one of the physicians said Thursday.
Kim Jeong-hwan, a professor of family medicine at Gangnam Eulji Medical Center, 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.
Kim was traveling 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 stabilize 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 stabilized, and the doctors continued monitoring her for the remainder of the flight. Her condition stabilized 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,” Kim said. “It was even more unusual that several doctors on their way to a conference were on board at the same time.”
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
