No visa, no problem: Indian saved at Pakistan hospital after midair cardiac arrest

When Vasant Bondale (76) started getting a cardiac arrest midair during an Istanbul-Mumbai flight, the flight officials knew that the elderly man from Thane would have to be rushed to a hospital right away.

But when they realised that the closest hospital was the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, one worry immediately crossed the minds of Bondale’s wife and brother, who were accompanying him on the flight – their lack of Pakistani visas.

But they need not have worried. As a report in today’s Mumbai Mirro _r_ reveals, the Pakistani officials as well as the medical authorities who treated Bondale never once brought up his visa status, even as he stayed on in Karachi for a full week for his treatment.

“I was not scared of landing in Pakistan because the priority was to save my husband,” said Nalini, Bondale’s wife to the Mumbai Mirror . “The Pakistani authorities never brought up the visa matter. In fact, their cooperation is something we don’t have words to express. They treated us like family.” Nalini remembers that one of the officials even got his wife to come to the office so that Bondale’s wife would feel safe.

Bondale’s son, Jayant, also received a visa within hours to go visit his father.

After spending a week in Karachi, Bondale was discharged on 11 July, and returned to India on the same day by a Pakistani International Airlines flight.

Read the full report here .