An Indian-origin doctor helped deliver a child at 35,000 feet while on a flight from Paris to New York in December last year.
27-year-old Dr Sij Hemal, was on his way to US after attending a friend’s wedding in New Delhi when a fellow passenger, 41-year-old woman Toyin Ogundipe, went into labour.
Ogundipe, a banker who resides in both the United Kingdom and Nigeria – went into labor about midway into the flight, as the jet skirted the southern coast of Greenland, 35,000 feet below.
An emergency landing would require a two-hour diversion to a U.S. military base in the Azores Islands, so the Air France crew asked if there were any doctors on flight.
A paediatrician, Dr. Susan Shepherd alongwith Dr Hemal, a second-year urology resident at Cleveland Clinic’s Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute took over.
“Her contractions were about 10 minutes apart, so the pediatrician (Dr. Susan Shepherd) and I began to monitor her vital signs and keep her comfortable,” explains Dr. Hemal in a release by Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Hemal – who volunteered to assist Toyin – recommended to the pilot they continue to JFK International Airport, still four hours away.
Source: Cleveland Clinic Newsroom
While the flight’s air hostesses tended to Toyin’s 4-year-old daughter, Amy, the doctors used instruments and supplies in the flight’s scanty medical kit to routinely check her vital signs, including blood pressure, oxygen rate and pulse. Very soon, however, their activities heightened.
Within the course of an hour, Toyin’s contractions accelerated; they occurred seven, then five and finally two minutes apart. “That’s when we knew we were going to deliver on the plane,” Dr. Hemal recounts.
Although Dr Hemal’s practice area is urology, he has delivered seven babies during medical school. “We’re trained to stay calm and think clearly in emergency situations,” he adds. “I just tried to think ahead to what might go wrong, and come up with a creative solution.”
Source: Cleveland Clinic Newsroom
A healthy baby boy Jake was born on flight.
Toyin, recalling the emergency in air, thanked the two doctors who helped deliver her child.
“I was relaxed because I knew I was in safe hands. They did everything a doctor or midwife would have done if I was in the labor room in the hospital. Even better, if you ask me.”
Dr Hemal used a shoestring to tie and cut the umbilical cord for baby Jake.
Source: Cleveland Clinic Newsroom
"This has been a team effort and certainly a flight I will never forget," he said.
For his efforts, Air France delivered a travel voucher and a bottle of champagne to Hemal.
