An inspiring scene occurred on a flight from Sydney, Australia, to Shenzhen on Monday as a Shenzhen doctor helped save a 60-year-old male passenger who suffered from a sudden illness and was in critical condition, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported Tuesday.
The Shenzhen-bound flight, which was operated by China Southern Airlines, took off from Sydney Airport at 9:50 a.m. Monday. More than three hours after takeoff, the chief cabin flight attendant, Liu Na, received a report from the crew that the male passenger had vomited and didn’t look very well.
Liu immediately went to the male passenger, who wasn’t identified, in the economy class cabin and found him breathing heavily with blue lips and pale skin, according to the report.
“The passenger didn’t look very well,” said Liu. “His wife told us that he had been vomiting and he couldn’t open his eyes. We wanted to transfer the passenger to the business class but he couldn’t move. Therefore, we placed him in a spacious area in the middle of the cabin while administering basic first aid treatment and asking for a doctor over the loud speaker.” Liu has 25 years of flight experience.
Yao Xiaoming, the Shenzhen doctor, and Zhong Liying from Shunde City, came to the passenger’s aid immediately after hearing the announcement. A preliminary examination showed that the passenger’s symptoms might have been caused by hypertension, cervical spondylosis, hypoxia and sedentariness.
The crew carefully looked after the passenger under the doctors’ guidance. An hour later, the passenger’s complexion gradually returned to normal and his breathing became smooth. His body temperature, pulse and blood pressure indices also returned to normal, the report quoted Liu as saying.
The passenger is a retired high school principal from Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, according to the Daily. The couple had been visiting their daughter and grandchild in Sydney for the previous three months and planned to change planes in Shenzhen and head back to Hangzhou that day.
He has had hypertension for many years and also has heart disease and coronary heart disease, according to the report. The couple waved goodbye and thanked the crew members for their care before switching to the next flight.