Durban - Flying doctor Nadia Swart, 30, recently completed her 100th flight, to Sudan.
“This particular mission involved a patient in Khartoum suffering from an acute bowel obstruction and requiring highly specialised care. It was our duty to ensure that he made it safely to South Africa as quickly as possible to undergo the life-saving procedure,” she told the Independent on Saturday.
It wasn’t a dangerous place, like some airfields she has landed at. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, medical crew must stay at the airport rather than checking on their patient at a local hospital to begin with, as is usually the case.
And there wasn’t a problem with the weather.
Not like when Swart flew across KZN in a storm with a patient who had to be evacuated to Durban after a diving accident in Mozambique. He had been vulnerable to any changes in air pressure.
Then, somewhere between Vilankulo and Durban, the plane flew into a storm.
“We ended having to fly low, below the storm. Going higher up would have been a risk to the patient. We were only just above the ground,” she recalled.
“The turbulence was so bad. Even though the patient was strapped in tight he was nearly hitting the roof. I was holding him tight!”
Then there was the time Swart had to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a child with cardiac problems, with his mother on board. They made it to Johannesburg’s Milpark Hospital and the story had a happy ending, she said.
Such situations are her most challenging.
“Generally there’s a whole team that does it but up there it’s just you and the paramedic. And the pilot, if he’s able to lend an extra hand. But you’re without a whole team.”
Up in the aircraft, space is limited so she does whatever she can on the ground, before take-off.
When she and her team attend to a patient in a local hospital on arrival at a destination, they take specialist equipment with them. It includes monitors and ventilators.
“Depending on where we go, many facilities have reasonable equipment but for most patients the reason for a transfer is that upgraded medical care is needed. So, our equipment is lifesaving.”
Boarding the plane for an emergency evacuation is usually a bit of a mystery, said Swart.
“We get reports of the patient’s condition beforehand. But on the other side you don’t necessarily get what you expect. So, mentally you prepare for the worst.”
“It can go either way.”
Her first mission involved a flight to Accra, in Ghana, to fetch a South African who had gone hiking in the West African country and had fallen.
“He had an open fracture of the leg and needed surgery.”
Pretoria born-and-bred, Swart is the daughter of a doctor and always wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps. After graduating from the University of Pretoria in 2014, she served her internship at the nearby Brits and her community service at 1 Military Hospital outside her hometown.
Now, after 36 months with the Netcare 911 Fixed Wing Division, she not only hopes to become “the best flying doctor” but also dreams of becoming the pilot of medical evacuation planes.
”After my first fight I was hooked,” she said.
The Independent on Saturday