Story By: Anastasia Smirnova, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
This ear-nose-throat doctor has successfully delivered a baby in mid-flight after a woman went into labour on board a passenger plane.
Ukrainian ear-nose-throat (ENT) doctor Alena Fedchenko was flying from Doha to Bangkok, en route to her final holiday destination Vietnam when the flight staff made an announcement at around 3 am asking if there was a doctor on board.
Fedchenko, who has 27 years of experience, was the only doctor on the flight and she said: “I thought that someone got high blood pressure and I went there. They asked me if I had a medical license. Unfortunately, I didn’t remember mine by heart.”
However, she then realised that an unnamed pregnant woman had gone into labour and she was given permission to call her son in the capital city of Kiev in north-central Ukraine, who provided her and the entire Qatar Airways team with the requested documents.
The doctor said that even though she has not delivered a single baby in her life before, she managed to remember everything that she studied at university within a second.
“I simply started doing my job. I put on the gloves and prepared the woman in labour. The baby was about to be born.”
The doctor says that luckily the entire process was quick and without complications.
She added: “The woman wasn’t at all screaming. I repeated over and over again that everything would be fine, that I am a doctor and she is in good hands. The boy was born in 15-20 minutes.”
Fedchenko added that she had her concerns that things might be complicated but did not share her concerns with the pregnant woman.
She said that the flight team did a great job assisting her, as they meticulously followed all her commands.
The doctor said: “I think passengers around had no idea what was going on. My husband and friends had no idea what I was up to.”
Only when the captain made an announcement that a boy had been born during the flight did everybody start to applaud.
The pilot performed an emergency landing in Calcutta, India, and the new mother and her son were taken to a hospital.
Fedchenko had to change into Qatar Airways uniform as her clothes were covered in blood and she was invited to sit in business class.
“I did everything that I had to. I felt as if I was at work. But then the baby was born, I started feeling euphoria, and nearly started crying. It was such a cute baby boy.”
The doctor said that she would love to find out what happened to the woman, but at the moment she has not received her contact information.
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