Al-Jazirah The voice recording of the assistant pilot on Saudia's Bisha-Riyadh flight SV1734 on March 1, which went viral on social media, was extremely painful. He was calling for urgent medical assistance to save the life his colleague who was dying in his hands. It seems that the ground service had taken about 25 minutes to attach the mobile stairs to the aircraft for the first-aid personnel to come on board and treat the patient. There were exchanges of accusations and counter accusations but the assistant pilot's voice recording was a clear proof for the unacceptable delay in the arrival of first-aid staff as a result of negligence on the part of ground services personnel. A similar incident of negligence had taken place at the airport the same morning. It was not a story reported by a reader. It happened to me personally while I was on a Gulf Air flight to Bahrain. I was not feeling well but I had to travel to attend a business meeting in Bahrain. Soon after boarding the plane I was having breathing difficulties. I informed the cabin crew as they were about to close the aircraft's doors for takeoff. The crew immediately provided me the necessary assistance and first-aid, but it did not work as my blood pressure dropped to 45/60. I had to deplane and the cabin crew instructed the ground service to provide me necessary medical care and then get me back on the aircraft. One ground services employee came without a wheel chair. He did not know that someone with low blood pressure would not be able to even stand. They later brought the wheel chair but the first-aid staff came very late I presume because they had not been informed in the first place. I was sitting in the wheel chair close to an immigration officer who was playing with his mobile phone. I wished if he had called the first-aid staff to come quickly to take care of me as I was about to faint. When I found myself in this terrible situation and that the Passport Department was interested only in cancelling my exit from the system, I decided to help myself and asked the man who was pushing the wheel chair to take my cell phone from the bag. I telephoned a friend who in turn contacted the first-aid department at the airport who then rushed to my help. Actually I did not want to highlight this issue in the media. But I thought the case of the late Captain Walid Mohammed, who was the pilot of Saudia's Bisha-Riyadh flight, should not be repeated. I believe that there is a real problem in this area and I was a victim of this problem. I have also noticed that the clinic at Terminal 2, especially at the Arrival Lounge, is far off, considering the huge size of the airport. They should have set up an emergency clinic in every building. I hope they would consider this proposal while making the new airport. They should also renovate the existing clinic, especially its dilapidated toilets. May Allah shower his mercy on the late Captain Walid Mohammed, who died as a martyr and a witness to this system failure. And I thank God for giving me a second lease of life to narrate this story, hoping this would impel the authorities never to neglect requests for help to save the lives of passengers. I take this opportunity to thank the Gulf Air crew for providing me the necessary care until they handed over me to the ground staff. I am also grateful to the first-aid team who sprang into action to save my life soon after receiving a call from my friend. I thank God for being still alive.
