Medical flights services in Kenya

Medical flights services in Kenya
Medical flights are used for critical care of a patient, who needs transportation. These flights are specially equipped for flying with intensive care units, a medical stretcher, specialized medical equipment, a full collection of patient specific medicines and orthopedics. The aircraft is staffed with a medical team to meet the specific needs of the patient. 
Kenya as a country has both private and public health-care facilities but the facilities at times are not streamlined enough to provide efficient services for the specialized treatment like cardiac surgery, organ transplant,joint replacement,fertility treatment, dental treatment etc. 
Adimu, is a 45 year old lady, she worked in a corporate office in Nairobi. One day she was driving to the office and on her way, she suddenly started feeling uneasiness and discomfort. Her husband Adamu, was along with her when she complaint of sudden chest pain. Adamu immediately rushed her to the nearest hospital whereby she was admitted. She had suffered from a heart attack. This time she was fortunate enough to get immediate medical attention. Her initial tests were conducted and the reports concluded that her aorta was not functioning properly. She required surgery soon.
Adamu had to travel to India for an important conference in the coming days for about a week. He discussed this situation with the doctor and asked his suggestion for air transporting Adamu to India to get better treatment and his professional commitment could also be fulfilled. The doctor had a discussion with the Hi-Flying Medical ambulance company and discussed the case history. Also they wanted the support of a medical escort during her stay in the hospital as Adamu would be flying alone with his wife and would be away at times for his official work.
Hi-Flying team chalked down the entire plan of patient transportation. The hospital in India was finalized and the team of the receiving hospital was provided with the entire details of the patient.The doctor in India was to perform surgery with minimally invasive heart surgery technique which ensures to avoid cracking of the chest.

Symptoms of a heart attack include:

• Heaviness, feeling discomfort, or pain in the chest or arm. .
• The discomfort that radiates to the back, jaw, throat, or arm.
• Indigestion, or feeling choked. 
• Vomiting, feeling nausea, or dizziness.

The process to get a planned surgery done:
Once it is discussed and heart surgery have been referred, an appointment is fixed with a cardiothoracic surgeon to discuss the type of overall surgery process, risks,  and benefits. The surgery is scheduled as per the urgency of the patient's condition, availability of dates of the doctor as well as per the patient's family members schedule. Once the surgery date is set, the patient needs to complete a pre-operative procedure. Doctor's will also discuss the patient's past history, medication ongoing etc.If the patient has been on blood thinners, doctors will give instructions for, when to stop the blood thinners before the operation is planned. Pre-operative visit process may take several hours and a family member is recommended to be brought along. The tests that need to be carried out before the operation are:

• Blood test, 
• Urine test
• Chest X-ray
• ECG etc.

The nurse attending the patient will provide instruction related to diet and nutrition, instructions related to the day of surgery like the day and time of surgery, medications to be taken, diet etc. Other instructions and restrictions related to the recovery period.
Following are some of the advanced types of Heart Surgery:
Aortic surgery: procedure to repair or replace aortic dissections, and aortic aneurysms.
Aortic valve surgery: procedure to repair or replace an aortic valve that is not working correctly.
Surgery to Arrhythmia surgery:procedure to correct irregular heart rhythms.
Congenital heart surgery: procedure to correct or to fix or treat a genetic heart defect.
Bypass graft surgery: a procedure used in which the blocked portion of the coronary artery is bypassed with another blood vessel.
Heart transplant: is a procedure to treat advanced heart failure, when the heart is not able to pump enough oxygenated blood.
Adimu's doctor in Kenya had discussed her case with the doctors in India and the surgery was planned in the coming week. Arrangements were made in co-ordination with Hi-Flying team for repatriating the patient in an air ambulance. All the arrangements were made on the flight such that the patient can fly comfortably. Adamu had discussed with the Hi-Flying team to provide a medical escort on board as well as a nurse should accompany her wife during the stay in India. This being a special case whereby her husband would be away from the hospital at times, the team made special arrangements of the medical escort for the ailing patient.
Hi Flying has a team of expert doctors, nurses and paramedics who have a minimum of 5 years of experience and have expertise in handling patients with the different medical condition. As the team is trained and have on-job experience in handling multiple patients throughout the year, they are able to manage patient condition very professionally.
Their Air ambulance is well equipped with all the modern machines fitted inside so that they are able to fly the patient of both the emergency and non-emergency condition.
Ventilators, oxygen units, monitoring equipment, medical stretcher are fitted inside  the air ambulance and the medical team monitors the patient from bed to bed during the transportation process.
All the necessary documentation required for flying the patient out of Kenya was arranged by the Hi-Flying team. The permissions required to fly the patient from out of Kenya was arranged by the team. Booking of tickets and required visas were also in place.
The doctor in India hospital was co-ordinated to inform about the exact time of arrival of the patient. A ground ambulance was arranged to transport the patient from the airport to the hospital. All the steps involved in the transportation of the patient from the location to the destination was well managed by their team. As every second count for the patients who are critical, the planning and execution is very efficiently handled by the team of Hi-Flying.
They have years of flying in almost all the parts of the world and they carry a sense of responsibility towards handling every case on a personal basis. Adimu reached her destination hospital smoothly with care. Her operation procedure was perfect as planned. The medical escort who accompanied her in the hospital took care of her post-operative procedure like the medicines to be given to her, diet and pain management therapy required. Adamu could concentrate on his official work post her operation as the accompanying nurse managed the patient very well during the post operative period.
Post operative phase is as critical as the operation procedure itself. The patient needs help and care to recuperate well. Pain post operation exists, so timely administration of medicines, proper diet management is equally important. This requires personal care and the nurse played her role very well. The couple had loads of appreciation for the entire team. The transportation procedure post operation was also arranged by the Hi-Flying team, but this time it was planned on a medical stretcher bound on a commercial flight which helped them to curtail the expenditure substantially.
Hi-Flying makes it a point to care for the budget of the patient’s family as well so that it incurs less burden on them and the money can be invested for the further treatment and medication procedure of the patient. The couple returned happily in Kenya and Adimu is recovering well at her hometown.