Loud Thinking

Pak doctors save Thane (India) man after mid-air heart attack | Mumbai Mirror | Jul 19, 2013

Pakistani officials allow unprecedented emergency landing and deploy ambulance to airport to take Vasant Bondale (76) to Aga Khan Univ
ersity Hospital, where doctors treat and release him in a fortnight.

Amid frequent reports of cross border firings along the LoC comes an India-Pakistan story to soften the heart of even the most ossified cynic.

The ministry of external affairs yesterday confirmed that on June 24, Vasant Bondale, a resident of Thane, was given life-saving treatment in a Karachi hospital after he suffered a heart attack on board an Istanbul-Mumbai flight. This despite the fact that Vasant, his wife Nalini, and her brother Vijay Phadnis, did not have Pakistani visas.

Nalini told Mirror yesterday, “I was not scared of landing in Pakistan as the priority was to save my husband. It was of course on my mind that we had no visas, but the Pakistani authorities never brought it up. In-fact, their cooperation is something that we don’t have words to express. They treated us like family.”

On June 24, Vasant (76) and Nalini (72) were on their way back to India after a 10-day Scandinavian tour when Vasant suffered a heart attack mid-flight. “It was around 3.30 am (IST). After finishing my dinner I wanted to discuss something with my husband. However, when he didn’t respond to my words I realised something was wrong,” Nalini said.