SOUTH African flight doctor, Nadia Swart recently celebrated a major milestone, successfully completing her 100th mission, on an emergency flight to Sudan. T

his comes just 36 months after Dr Swart qualified as a flight doctor.

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Dr Swart traversed the continent, crossing the airspace of six countries and covering approximately 4 660km to save the life of one man.

‘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 he made it safely to South Africa as quickly as possible, to undergo the life-saving procedure,’ she said.

The flight doctor with the Netcare 911 fixed wing division described the mission as a complex one, which required very special planning.

‘The added complexities of Covid-19 protocols mean there are many more boxes to check before taking to the air.

‘Furthermore, due to the duration of this long-haul mission, we had limited ground time available to comply with the legal flight and duty limitations for the crew.

‘We, therefore, had to make a direct turn-around, with the patient being brought to us at the airport,’ said Dr Swart.

She attributed the success of the mission to a dynamic and dedicated team of professionals. ‘When you are in the air, you need to be able to depend upon one another.

While you can make a call to ground services for telephonic assistance, you are the only ones attending to the patient.

We, therefore, rely heavily on cohesive teamwork and that is what can make or break a successful mission,’ Dr Swart said.

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