Anita Liepa, a general practitioner, flew from Catania to Riga with airBaltic in early October. During the flight, a passenger on board became ill. The flight attendants said it was just a migraine, but Anita and a colleague decided to take a look.
"She was talking with difficulty, her face was all red, her eyes were red, her hands were shaking. Well, I can see that the person is about to lose consciousness. The pulse was hard to count [..]. I see a hypertensive crisis, which is an acute illness, serious. Might be a heart attack too - that could be the cause," Liepa recounts the situation.
This means that action must be taken immediately. The flight attendants brought a first aid box to the doctor. The contents surprised her.
"There were lots of plasters, gauze bandages, Corvalol, Valocordin... Of everything in the box, which was quite large, only the paracetamol was useful, as it stops the headache itself. I asked them to look for Captoprilum, which will bring blood pressure down. There was none... The first aid kit was inadequate," says the doctor.
Fortunately, the other passengers had medicines that helped the woman recover. However, the doctor is puzzled as to why the first aid kit was so inadequate.
airBaltic points out that the contents of the first aid kit are compliant with the regulations and approved by the Civil Aviation Agency. In this situation, everything was done in accordance with the established guidelines.
"The medicines we have in the first aid kit are for diarrhea, headaches, stuffy noses, which can make it easier for passengers to fly and reach their destination. If passengers had got worse, the decision would have been made to land the plane at the nearest airport," explains Gatis Stanga, airBaltic's Head of Flight Attendants for Flight Standards and Procedures.
First aid equipment is different on intercontinental flights and short-haul flights when flying within Europe and there is a possibility to land. But wouldn't additional medication be cheaper than an emergency landing?
"The service staff on board are not medical professionals. They are able to give first aid in an emergency. However, they are not able to carry out in-flight treatment in depth. Therefore, the primary task is to hand over the passenger in life-threatening situations to medical staff, who act accordingly within their knowledge and competence," says Aivis Vincevs, Head of Operational Situations at the Civil Aviation Agency.
airBaltic does not exclude that the contents of the first aid kit will be supplemented in due course if deemed necessary.
