Cape Town – A passenger who experienced health complications during a flight from Durban to Cape Town Monday morning was attended to by Deputy Health Minister Dr. Sibongiseni Dhlomo.
The Department of Health said it has received messages of appreciation from several passengers who were on the flight during which Deputy Minister Dr. Dhlomo intervened to save the life of a fellow passenger in distress.
Narrating events leading to heroics, Health Departmental Spokesperson Foster Mohale said: “Deputy Minister Dhlomo was alerted by one passenger about the situation in which another passenger was in need of emergency medical assistance”.
The female passenger was in distress and in need of urgent medical assistance.
“He managed to attend and stabilise her for the remainder of the trip, which was almost cut short when the pilots were considering flight diversion for an early landing to save her life,” said Mohale.
Commenting on the matter the deputy minister said: “I was alerted by a passenger seated behind me in the plane that the cabin crew were asking for medical assistance to assist a passenger who was not well.
“I had to quickly move from my seat to the seat next to the passenger and attend to her.”
Deputy Minister Dhlomo added: “As a trained medical doctor, firstly I had to check the vital signs in order to detect any medical problems, and thanks to fellow passengers and the flight attendants who provided the medical kit and oxygen to enable me to stabilise the patient throughout the journey”.
On arrival at the Cape Town International Airport, the deputy minister handed the patient over to a waiting paramedic team.
“This is in the nature of the deputy minister to contribute towards accelerating healthcare service delivery by regularly visiting health facilities and forensic pathology services around the country to lend his hand through performing post-mortems to enable the families to bury their loved ones on time,” Mohale said.
