Emergency call on Dubai-India flight: UAE nurse helps stabilise woman at 35,000 feet

During her flight home from Dubai to Thiruvananthapuram on July 1, Indian expat Pooja Rajakumaran was looking forward to catching a short nap. But a few minutes after take-off, there was an announcement from the cabin crew appealing for a doctor or nurse on board.

"Is there any doctor or nurse on board?" Pooja sprang into action without a second thought. She unfastened her seat belt and walked towards the cabin crew. "I didn't stop to think. As a nurse, your instinct is simple — when someone needs help, you go." That instinct would soon put her face-to-face with a woman recovering from breast cancer surgery.

A wheelchair-bound passenger, who had recently undergone a mastectomy and physiotherapy in Dubai, needed medical assistance. By the time Pooja reached her, she was drifting in and out of consciousness.

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"Her pulse was weak. She was extremely dizzy. Her hands were freezing cold and shaking," Pooja recalled. "Considering her state, I knew I couldn't waste even a second."

For nearly the entire flight, Pooja stayed beside the woman, repeatedly checking her pulse, talking to her to keep her conscious, and doing everything she could to keep her stable.

In the narrow aircraft aisle, without a hospital bed, monitors, or a team of specialists, Pooja did what years of working in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at RAK Hospital had taught her to do.