AIIMS doctors onboard Vistara flight save 2-year old from cardiac arrest

A two-year-old girl child onboard a Vistara Airline flight from Bengaluru to Delhi on Sunday was miraculously saved by a team of doctors from All India Institute of Medical Sciences Delhi who happened to be travelling on the same plane.

The child onboard had been operated outside for intracardiac repair had become unconscious and cyanosed that is she had bluish-purple discolouration of skin and mucous membranes due to oxygen deficiency. When the crew raised a distress alarm, the doctors from AIIMS, five in number, immediately rushed to help the child.

The five doctors onboard immediately examined the child. The doctors included Dr Navdeep Kaur from Anaesthesia, Dr Damandeep Singh from Cardiac Radiology, Dr Rishab Jain from Radiology, Dr Oishika from Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Dr Avichala Taxak from Cardiac Radiology.

On examination it was found that the child’s pulse was absent, extremities were cold, and that she was not breathing and had cyanosed lips and fingers “On air immediate CPR was started and with limited resources, using skilled work and active management by team successfully IV cannula was placed, oropharyngeal airway was put and emergency response was initiated by whole team of residents onboard and the baby for brought to ROSC (return of spontaneous circulation),” according to a tweet put out by AIIMS Delhi.

The post added: “It was complicated by another cardiac arrest for which an AED (automated external defibrillator) was used. For 45 mins, the baby was resuscitated and flight was routed to Nagpur.”

On reaching Nagpur, the child was handed over in stable hemodynamic or blood flow to the paediatrician.