‘She Had Turned Blue’: AIIMS Doctor on How Toddler Was Resuscitated Mid-Flight

The 2-year-old baby was not breathing, and had cyanosed (blueish) lips when the docs on board jumped into action.

AIIMS Doctors revive 14-month old baby mid-flight.

(Photo: X (formerly Twitter)/@aiims_newdelhi/Altered by FIT)

A two-year-old toddler stopped breathing mid-air onboard a Delhi-bound flight on Sunday, 27 August. However, in a miraculous turn of events, she was resuscitated by a team of five doctors who happened to be travelling on the same flight.

Recounting the incident, Dr Navdeep Kaur, Senior Resident, Anesthesia, AIIMS, who led the 'operation', told FIT, "When I assessed the child, tshe was non-responsive and there was no pulse. She was in a state of cardiac arrest. My assessment at the moment was that I have to immediately intervene for resuscitation."

According to Dr Kuldeep Sukhadeve of KIMS-Kingsway Hospitals, Nagpur, who is currently treating the toddler, "She’s presently on ventilator support and in the most critical state, and her prognosis is uncertain."

What Happened on the Flight That Day?

The incident took place onboard Vistara Airline flight UK-814, on Sunday.

"After about half an hour of departure, we got a distress call from the cabin crew asking if any doctor is available on board," said Dr Navdeep Kaur.

"We went there and saw that there was a very small child who was fully blue, or cyanosed, in medical terms."

Dr Navdeep Kaur, Senior Resident, Anesthesia, AIIMS

The 16-month-old baby, who has a congenital heart problem, had experienced a cardiac arrest on flight and became unconscious.

As an anesthesia and intensive care specialist, Dr Kaur took charge of the situation and set to work with the team of four other doctors.

"We asked the crew members to bring all the medical equipment they had on board." And thus began the hour-long ‘operation’.

According to a post made by AIIMS Delhi, on the microblogging site X, the doctors onboard that saved the lives of the child were:

• Dr Navdeep Kaur (Senior Resident Anesthesia)

• Dr Damandeep Singh (Senior Resident Cardiac Radiology)

• Dr Rishab Jain (Ex- Senior Resident AIIMS Radiology)

• Dr Oishika (Senior Resident OBG)

• Dr Avichala Taxak (Senior Resident Cardiac Radiology)

The group was reportedly returning from a conference at the Indian Society of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (ISVIR) in Bengaluru.

'It Was a Unique Challenge': Working with Limited Resources

Although 28-year-old Dr Kaur was used to facing emergency situations on her job, this particular situation presented unique challenges, and the only way they were able to see it through was by thinking on their toes, she said.

"Normally when we face such an emergency, we have all the equipment and monitors to do our job, but in this case, we had to get creative to ensure we were making the best use of whatever limited resources we had. That was definitely challenging."

Dr Navdeep Kaur

"We assessed the emergency kit. I needed a face mask but the one that was available was of an adult size. There was an oxygen cylinder available, but we needed a pipe to connect to it. We used the pipe that comes with the emergency masks overhead. We used some cutlery to cut it and fix it from the cylinder to the AMBU (artificial manual breathing unit)," she explained.

She went on to talk about how not having monitors to assess the child's condition made things all the more tricky.

"We were flying blind because I didn't know her ECG, or how low her oxygen saturation was," said Dr Kaur.

What was going through her mind at the time?

"I was only thinking about what I should do next, and how I can make use of the things we have," she said.

She added that the one thing that she has always been taught was that whenever you’re in a crisis situation, the foremost thing is to calm yourself so that you can use the knowledge that you have.

"In a stressful situation sometimes you go totally blank and are not able to apply that in the practical life. So staying calm was paramount in the entire situation."

Dr Navdeep Kaur

"That and the fact that I had the whole team of doctors, and the coordination between us really helped," she added.

After about 20 minutes of resuscitation, she recounts, "We could feel the pulse. But then we lost it and the child again went into arrest."

This was when they decided they really needed to land, as intubation of the child was critical.

The team of doctors spoke to the pilot and the flight was rerouted for an emergency landing in Nagpur.

'She is Critical': Nagpur Doctors

On landing in Nagpur, the child was handed over to a waiting ambulance, and they were finally able to intubate her.

"Oxygen saturation was low, but the heart rhythm was there," said Dr Navdeep Kaur. They had managed to stabilize her.

He told FIT that apart from the complex congenital problem, she also has several anomalies in the heart, as well as other issues in her body, and that she had recently been treated for only one of the conditions.

"While she was recuperating from one cardiac surgery, she’s had several cardiac arrests. All of these factors will compound the problem."

Dr Kuldeep Sukhadeve (Senior Consultant - Paediatrics and Neonatology) KIMS Kingsway Hospitals,Nagpur

He added that her parents are distraught but are being counselled by the hospital from time to time. "We are trying our best to provide them with support."