Mrs. Johnson was very excited to visit her grandchildren in Lagos, Nigeria after their parents relocated to the city 2 years ago for work. She arrived Lagos in high spirit as the family already had a list of fun filled activities they wanted to do with her.

They were getting ready for dinner after arriving from the initial set of activities completed for the day when she began to feel unwell. She developed a persistent cough, and it became increasingly difficult for her to breathe. Her symptoms worsened and her son became worried and immediately rushed her to the hospital for medical care the following morning.

On arrival at the hospital, she was placed on supplemental oxygen while the doctor ordered a laboratory and radiological test to be carried out. On awaiting the results, she went into respiratory distress and had to be intubated/ventilated.

Following outcome of the investigations/lab results, a diagnosis of sepsis was made, and the treating doctor recommended she be evacuated to the UK for continued management.

It was at this juncture her son reached out to her insurance company who in turn contacted us at Flying Doctors Nigeria to assist with a bed-to-bed transfer of Mrs. Johnson to the UK.

We swiftly swung into action and put together all things in place that was required for her to be airlifted within 24hours.

On the day of the mission, Mrs Johnson was transferred from the hospital to the airport in our ALS ground ambulance that had a team of critical care experts onboard administering care to her closely on transit. On arrival at the airport, loading onto our air ambulance was seamless and transfer to the UK uneventful, thanks to the expertise of our specialist flight physicians that continued to administer quality care to the patient inflight up until handover to the receiving facility in the UK.

This was a sensitive case and we were glad to have been able to effectively manage both the clinical, operational and interpersonal challenges that presented during the course of delivering this service. It was a happy ending for all stakeholders as another life was saved.

For more information about our Air Ambulance service, kindly contact us at: +234 703 509 7761 or emergency@flyingdoctorsnigeria.com