Doctor's help needed on Finnair flights almost daily
Two unscheduled landings a year caused by passenger illness
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"Is there a doctor on board?" is an announcement heard about 300 times a year on flights of the Finnish airline Finnair. One in ten such cases involves a truly serious emergency.
"A large proportion of the serious illnesses are linked with a chronic condition suffered by a passenger, such as a sudden worsening of a heart condition in flight", says Olavi Hämäläinen, an aviation physician at Finnair.
Passenger ships in the Gulf of Finland call for expert help on a daily basis. That help is offered by doctors of the Mediheli helicopter emergency response organisation.
Finnish doctors are generally willing to come to the aid of passengers on a flight. In about three out of four cases, there is a doctor on the flight who reports to cabin staff. The situation is not always easy even for a trained doctor.
"If a doctor has treated ears for 25 years, giving emergency first aid is not in the freshest recollection", says Dr. Ari Kinnunen of the EMA Group, which specialises in aviation medicine.
Planes have limited space: they can shake with turbulence, equipment can be inadequate, and helpers are often inexperienced.
Ari Kinnunen notes that it is most important to think how quickly the airborne patient can be given the necessary treatment. Help can also be available by calling a specialist physician on the ground.
"If someone is choking on a steak, it has to be removed immediately. There is no time to plan an intermediate landing."
If a plane has just taken off from Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, a landing is possible again in half an hour at the earliest. If a plane is four hours out of New York, the first possibility may be Reykjavik, which is a few hours away.
Making an unscheduled landing in Siberia does not necessarily guarantee that there would be a hospital open in the area. The captain also needs to consider the safety of the other passengers.
In recent years, Finnair has made no more than two unscheduled landings a year because of a passenger's illness. There have also been no more than two deaths in flight a year. The company flies about 8.5 million passengers in a year.
Fainting, tourist diarrhea, and nausea are some of the most common complaints of airline passengers. About 1,000 cases of illness in flight take place on Finnair flights each year.
"Air travel might be preceded by departure from home at three in the morning, a drive to the airport in heavy snowfall, parking problems, and the various queues at the airport. At that point people with a long-term illness often do not feel very well", Olavi Hämäläinen points out.
Handcuffs are the preferred methods of subduing serious cases of air rage. Finnair does not resort to sedatives.
"There may be mixed use of intoxicants, which poses a risk for the use of sedatives", Hämäläinen points out.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 8.1.2008 - TODAY |
 Doctor's help needed on Finnair flights almost daily |
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