Chennai: Fifteen minutes before a Kuwait Airways flight could land at the Chennai airport, Radha (37), who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant delivered a male child in the plane. Luckily for her, there was a doctor flying on the same aircraft and was able to help her undergo a normal delivery in the plane, without complications.
She was flying home on Kuwait Airways flight KU 343 to give birth to this child in her native village. Scheduled to land at 4.20 am, she went into labour at around 3.45 am and gave birth by 4.16 am. The plane circled for a few minutes before landing at 4.30 am, so that passengers and crew could strap in for landing. Radha and her husband Subramani, from Pulapatharu Rajampet village near Cudappah, had gone to Kuwait to seek work last year.
An official from AAI said that the pilot asked passengers if anyone had medical experience on board and the doctor volunteered, "The doctor took the woman to the rear of the plane and tried to stave off the contractions till they landed but Radha's labour was advanced and they managed the delivery with limited instruments on board," he said. The doctor even severed the umblical cord and had the child secured in a warm blanket before the plane touched down.
Surprisingly, the pilot opted not to make an 'emergency' call to Air Traffic Control, opting to inform the Kuwait Airways ground staff in Chennai to have a medical team and ambulance ready, said an Air Traffic Controller on duty.
The child and mother were checked and then they were transferred to the Apollo Paediatric Hospital," said a doctor at the airport.
29/01/14 Daniel Thimmayya/New Indian Express
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
She was flying home on Kuwait Airways flight KU 343 to give birth to this child in her native village. Scheduled to land at 4.20 am, she went into labour at around 3.45 am and gave birth by 4.16 am. The plane circled for a few minutes before landing at 4.30 am, so that passengers and crew could strap in for landing. Radha and her husband Subramani, from Pulapatharu Rajampet village near Cudappah, had gone to Kuwait to seek work last year.
An official from AAI said that the pilot asked passengers if anyone had medical experience on board and the doctor volunteered, "The doctor took the woman to the rear of the plane and tried to stave off the contractions till they landed but Radha's labour was advanced and they managed the delivery with limited instruments on board," he said. The doctor even severed the umblical cord and had the child secured in a warm blanket before the plane touched down.
Surprisingly, the pilot opted not to make an 'emergency' call to Air Traffic Control, opting to inform the Kuwait Airways ground staff in Chennai to have a medical team and ambulance ready, said an Air Traffic Controller on duty.
The child and mother were checked and then they were transferred to the Apollo Paediatric Hospital," said a doctor at the airport.
29/01/14 Daniel Thimmayya/New Indian Express
