Heart attack at sea, life saved in Mumbai

55-year-old US citizen Magdy Elkeik was brought to a Vashi hospital more than three hours after being rescued from the ship; thanks doctors for life-saving angioplasty

Heart attack at sea, life saved in Mumbai

55-year-old US citizen Magdy Elkeik was brought to a Vashi hospital more than three hours after being rescued from the ship; thanks doctors for life-saving angioplasty
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While sailing the high seas, little would one imagine that a niggling chest pain could land the person in a hospital in a foreign land.

But for Magdy Elkeik (55), a marine engineer, it all came true when he had to be rushed from a cargo ship to the city while travelling to Egypt from Colombo.

Magdy Elkeiku00a0 was given a clean bill of health by
the doctors after recuperating for a week

The US national suffered a heart attack while he was sailing and had to be admitted to a hospital in the wee hours of July 23.

When he began suffering from extreme pain in his chest, Elkeik alerted the ship authorities and a cardiac ambulance was called in to rescue him.
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"The rescue boat took nearly three hours to reach the port and my pain was increasing but fortunately the ambulance was waiting for me," said Elkeik.

Dr Pramod Mahajan, who was in-charge of the rescue operation, said, "The minute we got a call from the ship, we sent our air ambulance but because it was a container ship, we could not find space to land.
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After that, we sent a rescue boat with a team of emergency doctors and brought him to shore where the cardiac ambulance was waiting for him."

Dr Mahajan added, "When we transferred him, we had already begun his medication owing to which he survived.

When a patient suffers a heart attack on a ship, treatment becomes a bit difficult but we try to do everything that we can."

When Elkeik reached Fortis Hirandandani Hospital in Vashi, a team of two cardiologists Dr Sandip Rane and Dr Amit Sharma were waiting for Elkeik.

"When he reached the hospital, he complained of suffering from chest pains. However, he refused to undergo an angiography.
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Only when I comforted him and told him that he was like a brother to me, did he give his consent for the procedure," said Dr Sandip Rane, cardiologist, Fortis Hospital.

According to Dr Rane, who carried out the angiography, Elkeik was suffering from a 100 per cent blockage in one of the major heart vessels putting his life in grave danger.

"I had to break the news to him that he required an angioplasty, which is a serious operation.

Fortunately, for us, he had developed faith in us and he informed his wife and gave us the green signal to carry out the operation," added Dr Rane.

After resting for a week's time, Elkeik was fit enough and was discharged from the hospital on Saturday.

On his way to the airport to board a flight to the USA, Elkeik said, "I am a healthy man. I don't know how I got a heart attack but I am fortunate to have survived it."

Timeline
>> Magdy Elkeik complained of chest pains in the wee hours of July 23.
>> Ship gets delayed and he is brought to Mumbai port at 6 am on July 23
>> At 7 am, Elkeik is admitted to the ICU of Fortis Hospital and the angiography and angioplasty are performed.
>> On July 30, Elkeik gets discharged from the hospital at 12 pm.