They say a doctor is always on duty. Such is the nature of their job that it goes beyond their regular work and work hours because more than a profession it is considered to be a service to society and humanity. Living up to this in its true spirit, a Thane-based doctor, who was returning after a vacation in Dubai, saved a life of a passenger at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport on Sunday night.
Dr Gayatri Patankar, an anaesthesiologist, was returning from a family vacation in Dubai when she noticed an unconscious man in wheelchair and commotion around him with people talking about the awaiting medical help.
The passenger identified as Neelmani Sharma was said to be returning from
Thailand and had suddenly fallen unconscious at the luggage collecting area of the airport around 11.30 pm.
“He was pulseless, cynosed (bluish discoloration of skin). I immediately offered my help and asked people to get him on the floor,” said Patankar.
She then started giving him cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) – a lifesaving technique to maintain circulation and breathing. “I immediately put two bags beneath his leg for proper blood circulation, started giving him cardiac massage. Within 3-5 minutes, the airport staff provided me emergency kit. Defibrillator (a device that gives a high energy electric shock to the heart through the chest wall to someone who is in cardiac arrest) was used to give him shock, started ventilating him. Since there was no oxygen cylinder, an ambu bag was used. Injection Adrenaline was given. I intubated the patient too for effective ventilation,” said Patankar.
It took 15 minutes before Sharma’s heart was revived. “He was shifted to the hospital. I am informed that he is in Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Though he had a severe cardiac arrest, he had no brain damage, no aspiration. He is stable but has been diagnosed with renal artery stenosis and will undergo bypass surgery in couple of days. He also has a history of high blood pressure,” said Patankar.
The instances of deaths due to Sudden Cardiac Arrests (SCA) have been on the rise due to long working hours, hectic lifestyle and unhealthy eating habits, say doctors.
Unfortunately, an SCA does not happen only to people who suffer from heart diseases or with age or only to men. SCAs are unrelated to age, sex, existing heart ailments and family history.
A sudden cardiac arrest is a condition where the heart stops functioning without any warning – if not addressed immediately it leads to unexpected death within 60 minutes. The survival rate in SCR is less than 1% as the medical services do not reach on time. Experts however say that if SCA is treated within the first 4-6 min more than 95% of lives can be saved.
Reaching hospital on time or getting an appropriately equipped ambulance within 10 minutes plays a crucial role in saving SCR patient.
“In such cases, bystanders should first figure out whether the patient is unconscious (with heart still beating) or has suffered a cardiac arrest. There is a window period of 3 minutes after the arrest when we can revive the patient by giving Cardiopulmonary Resuscitations (CPR)” said Dr Sudhir Pillai, cardiologist, PD Hinduja Hospital.
As per the updated American Heart Association guidelines, if the patient is unresponsive, the person giving CPR should start giving chest compressions first and improve circulation and then try reviving airway and breathing by mouth to mouth resuscitation, said Pillai.
Patankar said public places like airport, malls, and theatres should be prepared for emergency like this. “An international airport like Mumbai should have a dedicated medical room, doctors, oxygen cylinder. The first 5 minutes in such cases are very crucial,” said Patankar.
Well done Dr Gayatri
Congratulationsto Dr.Gayatri for her timely intervention to give appropriate medical care to the patient in need.This is a very brave move & must be appreciated by all.This will encourage other Doctors & even common public to help during such unfortunate events.Great Gayatri !!
-Dr.Pramod Kale.
Great spontanious humanitarian work done worth appreciation. These days no one wants to take such risk on public for the fear of negative result legal implications.
God bless her
Dr.Gayatri Patankar is an Anaesthesiologist & Intensivist , whole anaesthesia fraternity is proud of her.
We should learn a lesson from this incident that atleast minimum basic facilities like oxigen, Ambu bag, defibrillator,etc. should be available in all public places.
-Dr.Pramod L. Kale
Great
Great !!!
Really very creditable
That is an excellent work by Dr. Gayatri to save life. Hats off to you doctor. We are all proud of you. As Dr. Pillai pointed out, there should be emergency teal with ACLS training in all airports to face such emergencies.
Great work and social awareness..
Well done by Dr Gayatri, but I think defibrillator works only in ventricular fibrillation, either he was having VF or his heart might be beating, but may in sever shock.
Kya baat hai….
Kudos to this noble person
Great job doc .but sad no one in general public knows how to give CPR & provide basic life support to such people .
My appreciation to The Doctor!!
Great mob.
Hats off doctor. Take a bow.
Congratulations Dr. Patankar. May we have many more like you.
Congratulations Dr. Patankar. May we have many more like you. We are really proud of you.
Simply great gaytri
This is highly appreciating move by Dr.Patankar, her execution in her capacity to save patient is higly appreciated. Well done Dr.Patankar. Best regards; Prof. Prashant H Pawar, GM- Marketing, Zen Hospital.
Kudos to Dr. Gayatri !!! May God bless you.
N.B. I, myself have gone under CABG (Coronary artery bypass grafting/Bypass Surgery) a few years back.
wonderful great job done in saving him
Beautiful Doctor Beautiful job done.
Congratulations Dr. Patankar. May we have many more like you. Hats off doctor
Great job. We are proud of you.
God bless you.
Good
Kudos to Dr Gayatri!
A life Saved is a Family saved!
She has displayed amazing presence of mind.. She being an Anaesthetist definitely helped.
But bystanders can also start resuscitation.. Basic Life support knowledge is the need of the hour.
That’s enough to get the Airway, Breathing and Circulation back on track.
She started with BLS and moved on to ACLS . Hats off to Gayatri.
A Fellow Anesthetist in admiration.
Good Gayathri,
Greater timely move, really saved life without brain damage, that’s the real doctor’s spirit
Well done Dr.Gayatri…..you acted like an angel …..Stay blessed…
Fantastic job…
Great madam very proud of you and your family…
Good…
Congratulationsto Dr.Gayatri for her timely intervention to give appropriate medical care to the patient in need.This is a very brave move & must be appreciated by all.This will encourage other Doctors & even common public to help during such unfortunate events.Great Dr Gayatri
Great presence of mind,dedicated and most important humanity.Thanks from all of us.Thank you Dr Gayatri.
Kudos to the dedication ….Dr.Gayathri
Dr Gayatri You Are Great
great work doc,great presence of mind…
We are all proud of you Dr.Gayatri. You have displayed your commitment to your profession and saved a valuable life! !GOD bless you my child.
Very inspiritional
Great work Dr. Gayatri. Great presence of mind. Proud to have doctors like you. Equally proud to be Thaneite.
Great job. We are proud of you.
God bless you
Good idea
Good job Doctor. May God bless u for ur kindness and presence of mind!
Great act of professionalism, humanity and a great step to build trust qmong people that some one can help in case of distress! !
Salute you Dr. !!!!
God bless!!
Varad Nayak
I am simply overjoyed to know that all doctors in India are not just after money; some are really dedicated strictly as per their oath . Congratulations Dr.Gayatri
—-Pratima K.Sharma
Hat’s off Dr. Gayatri. We are proud of professionals like you.
thanks madam showing such humanity hats off
Great job Dr Gayatri , you are a parameter for you profession as a doctor.
Many thanks Dr. Gayatri. You are our Hero. Big salute !!
God bless you Dr gayatri
Gives you superdynamic
Energy and magnetic attachment to your work
You wished in your life.
Republic day gift to the nation .
DR Gayatri ji you Save a piller of Family
You are Great. Big Big Salute.
DR Gayatri ji
Thank you very Much to Save our Nilmani Sharma.
You are Great. Big Big Salute.
Well done Dr.Gayatri. proud of you
*best try for education to people
Great Gayatri.. An example of a noble service profession, in the field, medical education got rewarded through her vocational excellence her exceptional outgoing and tha all resulting saving a life. God bless you Gaytri!
His was on 22nd night at the mumbai Intl airport. On 23rd this emergency cardiac borderline patient was dared to have been operated with confidence in calculation successfully at Seven Hills Hospitals by a young cardiac surgeon Dr Kabeer Umakumar who had pulled out from his birthday celebrations fr day long till late night to ensure patient recovery. Kudos Kabeer, proud of you, God Bless You!
Well done Dr Gayatriji . Really you saved his life and become a noble doctor also . God bless you madam .
You have done great job mam
Exceptional, timely and providential intervention by Dr.Gayatri…May this tribe increase all around us!
Hi doc , your just superhuman . You have given CPR , Emergency medication , Intubation , ROSC and even shifting to hospital all alone and got standing ovation of your act too at the airport tats amazing . Hope i too had same knowledge and noble soul like you. Hats of to u Madam
You must do the things you think you cannot do, i heartily thank you Dr Gayatri
No words are enough to thank the doctor for what she has done. God bless her and he family.
अभिनंदन डॉ.,आपण एका व्यक्तिचे प्राण वाचविले. एका सार्वजनिक ठिकाणी अशा प्रसंगी एक डॉक्टर उपस्थित असण्या बरोबर त्या डॉक्टर मधे असणारा परमोच्च सेवाभाव महत्वाचा ,ज्याचे दर्शन आपल्या कृतितून झाले. धन्यवाद.
Myself Muskan Sharma daughter of Neelmani Sharma. Thank you doctor for saving my father’s life.
Myself Muskan Sharma daughter of Neelmani Sharma. Thank you doctor for saving my father’s life.
Thanks Dr. GAYATRI . We are greatful to you. May God Bless you & keep you smiling always in your lufe. Thanks you so much
Great job done by Dr. Gayatri, saved life of my friend Mr Sharma Neelmani. Hats off Dr Gayatri & we are proud of her. God bless her all the times forever
Really great job. Everybody should be proud of her.
Dr Gayatri u have done a noble job to save a precious life , great !!!
Dear Dr Gayatri. …u hv done absolutely rewarding genuine job which saved someone ‘s life n ur aggression n timely help which was well appreciated. ….my salute to you n many congratulations n blessings from bappa morya. Hv a great luck in ur future endeavour. Thnx.
Doc you lived up to your oath. God Bless
Good human being
Congrts Dr Gayatri mam
Well done
Great job
Dr Gayatri. That person on Mumbai airport is my friend.
I really thanks and appreciate what you did that day.
God Bless you and your family. Pls let me know if I can help you any time
Once again no words to thank you but still. … God bless you all
Dhimant
I wish my father in law had someone like Dr. Patankar around. He passed away due to SCA at the baggage claim area. He was returning back from his US visit. As stated unfortunately the medical help was not available immediately and by the time the doctor’s help was received it was too late. Airports should have such immediate medical help available since passengers are travelling long distance and long hours and might experience DVT or Cardiac arrest like situations. Many lives can be saved with timely medical help.
Dr Gayatri well done and we all r proud of you.
Well done Dr Gayatri. Dr Suresh K Pandey, SuVi Eye Institute, Kota, Raj.
Well done dr.gyatri.salute
Well done Dr. Gayatri
Great job we salute you doctor
Grt…..u have to prove…..u r real indian….bhagwan apko hamari bhi umra dee……
Great Dr. Gayatri, you made our Fraternity proud. And made public to think about work and importance of doctors, in today’s negative image of Doctors.
Truly said that doctors are our living god, proved by Dr Patankar. Hats off
Well done !!
Great,Dr Gayatri, Have just read about your superb noble deed sitting in the plane Can well imagine the scene at such a busy airport. An inspiratiion to all,truly. May your tribe increase. Yes,we need such medical set ups at all busy places to handle emergencies ..
Three cheers for Dr Gayatri Patankar
Wonderful and timely action doctor,your suggestions regarding preparedness of public institutions need to be addressed by the authorities in a timebound manner.
Ravishankar
Thanks Dr Gayatri ji
Whole medical fraternity is proud of you dear ma’am
God bless you.
Dr. Well done.
Dr. Gayatri belongs to Thane. We are proud of her
hats off Dr. Gayatri.. Great
Congratulations Dr. Patankar
We all are so proud of you, Dr. Gayatri! You are an inspiration to all of us.
Proud of you Dr. This is brilliant effort particularly under such high pressure. Thank God that he survived. Best wishes & highest regards..
Great job doctor. God bless you.
Well done Dr. God bless you.
We are proud of you doctor. You’re true and dedicated to your profession. Keep it up.
Great nob doc. Proud of you and your service
Well done!! God bless you and your family!!!
Dr Patankar, this is great. Hats Off! My dad Was in same situation, but got no help in time and so he passed away. Thanks doctor
You are our Hero Dr