By the time the plane landed, the toddler was playing with his mother. He needed both oxygen and medication but the child’s parents had accidentally packed his asthma meds in their checked luggage. “I think with the cold and popping of the ears and crying, he got worse”, said Guru.
Advertisement
Dr. Guru measured the child’s oxygen levels and found them to be very low. The doctor says by coincidence, he’s provided someone medical care on the last three flights he’s been on.
While there was an adult inhaler on the plane, Guru was concerned the boy was too young – and upset – to use it properly.
He does not usually work with pediatric patients and specializes in robotics, but as a medically trained doctor he understood what the most effective treatment would be for the toddler.
He basically converted an inhaler for adults into a paediatric nebuliser, a machine meant to deliver asthma medication by turning it into mist which can then be inhaled through a face mask or mouthpiece.
.
That is when Dr Guru, who in his day job develops robotic surgical devices, switched on his creativity and cobbled together a makeshift nebulizer.
He cut up a water bottle and added oxygen to one end and the adult inhaler through a small hole in the bottle.
In an effort to make it easier for the toddler to use his contraption, Guru modified his design by cutting a hole in a plastic cup and mounting it atop the bottle so that it could fit against his mouth and nose.
“As the bottle went near to the child’s face, he pushed it away”.
‘Within about half an hour and two treatments he was sounding much better’. That way the oxygen and medication could be delivered through the bottle’s opening directly to the child.
Guru said he wanted to share the story as a reminder to parents of asthmatic children to always keep their vital medication nearby.
This is the third time Dr. Guru has had to help a fellow passenger on board a transatlantic flight, and the doctor said it seems he will just have to get used to it.
Advertisement
Dr. Guru said that it is a wakeup call for all the families to keep such medical instruments with them at all times as you never know when the need might arise.
