Mid-air deaths expose DGCA loophole, need for emergency care

New Delhi: The recent mid-air deaths of at least two fliers with cardiac problems have brought into sharp focus the need to upgrade medical equipment and provide basic training to the domestic airlines crew.
The unfortunate incidents have also exposed a loophole in the Director General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA) 'civil aviation requirement' guidelines, which contain a list of mandatory medicines and equipment the airlines are supposed to carry to deal with medical emergencies.
According to the DGCA guidelines, the Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) - which generates an electric shock to revive the heartbeat - is mandatory only on international commercial flights of two hours or more. But it is not a must for domestic carriers since the rule states that an AED 'may' be carried on board. Since the fliers in most cases prefer not to declare their ailments, the domestic airlines ignore taking on board the defibrillator and other emergency instruments. Senior doctors and aviation experts believe that the airlines are ill-equipped and the cabin crew untrained to handle cardiac emergencies.
Dr K. Srinath Reddy, Public Health Foundation of India president and professor of cardiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), said since cardiac problems are on the rise, the domestic aircraft should be equipped with defibrillators and resuscitation equipment, which is mandatory on flights in the US.
27/06/11 Ajmer Singh/India Today

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

Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Jun 2011, Safety Jun 2011