The Indian Coast Guard personnel on Tuesday rendered urgent medical evacuation by air-lifting one critical sailor, suffering from acute appendicitis, from a Malta-based vessel off Porbander sea. Indian Coast Guard received a satellite telephonic message from MT Hellas Serenity, an lPG carrier, regarding a crew namely Kaloudis Gerasimos (Nationality), Deck Cadet suffering from acute appendicitis. The vessel, at the time of reporting, was about 305 Nautical miles (565 Kms) from Porbandar and was transiting from Fujairah to Indonesia.
On receipt of the message, Maritime Search & Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), Mumbai established a contact with the vessel and the service medical officer spoke to patient as well as the Master of the vessel. Considering the critical condition of patient and no medical support available onboard, Indian Coast Guard advised the Master to proceed for Porbandar with maximum speed for subsequent air-lifting the patient.
Meanwhile, the patient’s condition was constantly monitored and medical advice was rendered via satellite phone by the Indian Coast Guard.
As the vessel arrived off Porbandar sea, the patient was successfully air-lifted by the Indian Coast Guard Advance light Helicopter. The patient was subsequently handed over to vessel’s local agents for further medical treatment. The medical condition of the patient is reported to be stable, said the official source.