Thursday, July 18, 2013

Pak docs save Thane man after mid-air heart attack

The ministry of external affairs yesterday confirmed that on June 24, Vasant Bondale, a resident of Thane, was given life-saving treatment in a Karachi hospital after he suffered a heart attack on board an Istanbul-Mumbai flight. This despite the fact that Vasant, his wife Nalini, and her brother Vijay Phadnis, did not have Pakistani visas.
Nalini told Mirror yesterday, "I was not scared of landing in Pakistan as the priority was to save my husband. It was of course on my mind that we had no visas, but the Pakistani authorities never brought it up. In-fact, their cooperation is something that we don't have words to express. They treated us like family."
On June 24, Vasant (76) and Nalini (72) were on their way back to India after a 10-day Scandinavian tour when Vasant suffered a heart attack mid-flight.
Vasant was first attended to by Dr Sudhir Deodhar, a resident of Kolhapur and a member of the Scandinavian tour group. After the pilot of Turkish Airlines flight TK 720 made an in-flight announcement asking for doctors to volunteer, the crew realised there was also a cardiologist -Dr Sudhir Bhate - on board.
Dr Bhate attended to Vasant, who soon began to respond to the medicines. Dr Bhate quickly confirmed that Vasant was in the midst of a cardiac arrest and recommended that he be taken to the nearest hospital as soon as possible.
"Karachi ATC told us the pilot was requesting an emergency landing due to a medical emergency. They confirmed that the request had been granted," said Junaid Kausar, manager, operations, for Turkish Airlines in Karachi.
 "The medical team rushed Vasant to the Aga Khan University Hospital, one of Pakistan's best. Vasant was put on a ventilator in the cardiac care unit and a team of doctors were quickly on the job," Junaid added.
After doctors saved Vasant's life, one question remained on everyone's mind - how would Pakistan authorities react to their lack of visas? However, their fears were soon put to rest - not only were they not asked for a visa, but in their own words, were "treated life family".
19/07/13 Bipin Kumar Singh and Jayadev Calamur
/Mumbai Mirror
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