"Instinct kicked in" - Junior Boks team doctor saves fellow passenger's life on flight
Junior Boks team doctor Clement Plaatjies spoke to Breakfast with Martin Bester after saving a woman’s life while travelling with the team on a flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town.
Junior Boks team doctor Clement Plaatjies has been hailed as a hero after what should have been a routine journey home turned into a life-saving moment.
The incident occurred while the Junior Boks were returning home after winning the Junior World Championship in Georgia.
After landing at OR Tambo International Airport following their international flight, members of the team boarded a connecting flight to Cape Town.
Dr Plaatjies was completing his medical reports from the competition when he was alerted to an emergency at the front of the aircraft.
A fellow passenger was in distress and urgently required medical assistance.
Dr Plaatjies walked to the front of the plane and found the woman partly unconscious and leaning against another passenger. An oxygen mask had already been placed over her face.
As he attempted to establish what had happened, the woman collapsed to the floor.
Dr Plaatjies checked for a pulse and, after discovering that she did not have one, immediately began performing CPR.
“That’s when instinct kicked in, I suppose, and I immediately started CPR,” he said during an interview on ‘Breakfast with Martin Bester’.
Thanks to his swift response and the medical equipment available on the aircraft, the woman began showing signs of movement after approximately three minutes of CPR.
“It isn’t often that you can make that much of a difference with what we had available on the flight,” he said.
“Although, that being said, everything that we needed to save a life was available to us on the plane, so kudos have to go to the airline as well.”
Dr Plaatjies stressed that he was not the only person who assisted during the emergency. He credited the airline crew and other passengers for their support.
“There were many hands that helped that day. It wasn’t just me, of course. There were a lot of other passengers and the crew as well,” he said.
After regaining consciousness, the woman was helped back into her seat. She was later able to stand up and walk off the aircraft herself after it landed in Cape Town.
Dr Plaatjies said he was grateful that he had been on the flight and was able to assist when the emergency occurred.
His quick thinking, medical training and willingness to step forward helped save the passenger’s life, while the response from the crew and passengers highlighted the importance of teamwork during an emergency.
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