ALKHOBAR: India’s national airline is facing flak from the Indian community in the Eastern Province for refusing to transport home a comatose Indian national.
Thirty-nine-year-old Chekkamadath Muhammad Shafi Kutty was to fly Air India to Calicut from King Fahd International Airport in Dammam on Aug. 4. Kutty has been comatose since June 14 after getting serious head injuries in an accident on the Dammam-Abqaiq Highway. He was taken by Red Crescent to King Fahd Military Hospital (KFMH) in Dhahran where he has been treated since then. He was taken off the ventilator on June 27 and since has been described as stable.
KFMH doctors suggested he be transferred to another hospital. In its July 12 medical report, signed by consulting neurosurgeon Dr. Ahmed Abdul Kader Zaiotuni and medical director Brig. Gen. Saud Al-Saif among others, it stated the patient was ineligible for further treatment at KFMH and that he should be transferred to another hospital. It also noted “the patient can be transferred by airplane with an oxygen mask.”
This last observation prompted friends and community elders to send him back to India to his family for better treatment. They approached Air India with the medical report. They were told about the airline’s standard operating procedure in case of ferrying sick and injured patients. It is a long and cumbersome process, but the community was ready to meet all the conditions.
According to the airline’s standard procedure, injured or sick patients have to submit a medical certificate stating the exact condition. This certificate and all reports are then submitted to Air India’s Medical Department in Mumbai, which gives clearance for the transfer and arranges for the necessary on-board medical equipment. Kutty’s medical report and relevant papers were submitted to the airline’s reservation office in Alkhobar. These papers were sent to Mumbai two weeks ago; doctors at Air India’s Medical Department gave a green signal, and the ticket was then issued for the Aug. 4 flight.
KFMH was advised to make preparations for his transfer to India. The community also arranged for Rajani Mol Sabu, a qualified nurse from a local polyclinic, to escort Kutty. Kutty’s sponsor arranged for his final exit, and the nurse got her exit-re-entry visa. The stretcher was arranged as was the ambulance. Getting the ambulance to the aircraft also requires a mass of paperwork including a valid ambulance istimara; a copy of the driver’s iqama and driver’s license; the patient’s passport copy, original and photocopy; and the passport copies of the doctor who escorts the patient on board. After clearing those hurdles, the ambulance needs to arrive at the airport four hours before the flight departure.
The Indian community, the sponsor and KFMH doctors met all the conditions and were at the airport fours hours before the scheduled departure at 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 4. Meanwhile, Rajani Sabu, the nurse who was to escort Kutty, completed her immigration formalities and checked in for flight and waited for the stretcher to bring in Kutty. A final exit was put on Kutty’s passport, and he was taken on a stretcher via an ambulance to the aircraft.
However, the doctor who brought Kutty to the flight realized that the airline had not done its homework. The oxygen mask that it brought was not in the doctor’s words “compatible.” After realizing the mismatch, the aircrew declined to get him on board.
The community is angry at Air India’s unhelpful attitude. “This is criminal on their part,” said community member Abdullah Ali. “We submitted a medical report. They knew exactly what was required. We met all the conditions — nothing was hidden from them. Imagine the distress caused to the patient and to the community and to the doctors at the King Fahd Military Hospital. We spent a fortune, but that is beside the point.”
According to informed sources at Air India, the case was quite complicated and the staff did not want to take a risk. “When the doctor told us that the oxygen mask was not compatible how could we take the risk of getting him on board?” asked one of them.
“Also, we realized that the condition of Kutty, as described in the medical report submitted two weeks ago, was different on the day of boarding. The community is generally emotional in these cases, but we have to follow our instincts in such cases. We understand the anguish it has caused to the family members and to the community, but then this is not deliberate at all.”
The community remains unconvinced and vowed to file a case against the airline with Saudi Human Rights Commission and other relevant agencies.
“The nurse is in India now. Kutty’s relatives, who were waiting for him at the airport in India, are in a state of panic,” said Ali. “We have no answer for them, and we are clueless as to what our next step should be. Kutty is back at KFMH.”
