Ailing senior citizens not allowed to fly

Mumbai: Mumbaikar Om Prakash Jawa, 67, was not allowed to board his Air India flight to Dubai on Saturday. Reason? The airport doctor declared him unfit for flying after he suffered his second mild heart attack. Though he insisted on taking the flight, the airline did not budge. “Throughout his treatment, Jawa kept vomiting but insisted that nothing was wrong, and he should be allowed to undertake the journey,” said an airline official. “The airport doctor recommended that he be hospitalised immediately. We did not let him board because it was risky for him.”
It has become common for airlines to refuse old and sick passengers from boarding the flight. In a similar incident on January 31, Jamil Ali, 38, who was booked on Deccan Airlines Mumbai-Luknow flight, was refused for the same reason. “He was on a wheel chair. Even the airport doctor refused to give him a fitness certificate,” said an airport source. He passed away after being hospitalised.
In both cases, the passengers were severely unwell and yet persistent to board the flight.
03/02/08 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Air India - International Feb 2008, airports Feb 2008, Foreign Feb 2008, NACIL Feb 2008, Safety Feb 2008