Mumbai Mirror

Mumbai, Mar 11: Mumbai's new T2 terminal may rival any world airport when it comes to infrastructure, but the airport's apathy towards passenger safety and comfort doesn't seem to have improved one bit.

Airport authorities on Sunday dumped John Valentine D'Souza, a 52-year-old diabetic patient who had collapsed inside the terminal following a hypoglycemia attack, outside the terminal and left him unattended for two hours. Airport officials, who assumed D'Souza was in an inebriated state, left him in a heap atop his luggage and casually asked his family in Mira Road to come and pick him up.

It was three hours before his family came and revived D'Souza, who was heading back to Kuwait on a 6.10 am Kuwait Airlines flight. They gave him some sweets, after which he was up on his feet in 15 minutes. D'Souza's family said once it was evident he was sober, red-faced officials said they relied on the duty doctor's report that certified him drunk.

In July 2013, a 27-year-old passenger fell off a stationary escalator and lay unconscious for two hours before he was taken to Cooper Hospital. He died three days later. D'Souza's family, in its complaint to MIAL,

has sought answers to the following questions:

1.Why was D'Souza not admitted to a hospital or given first aid when he fell unconscious?

2.On what basis was he labelled drunk by airport authorities?

3. What would the authorities have done had he not had a cell phone in his person or the family was not reachable?

4.What can we, or any passenger, expect if such a situation happens in the future?

John Valentine D'Souza with his wife

When Mirror contacted MIAL, authorities maintained D'Souza was drunk. "The airline offloaded the passenger because he was drunk," a spokesperson said. "A medical team examined him and found him to be drunk. Our landside officials contacted his family and alerted them about the situation. In the meantime, the passenger was escorted out of the terminal."

When Mirror asked specifically if the doctor had conducted a breathalyser or blood test before certifying D'Souza drunk, the spokesperson admitted it was not the case and said D'Souza's state was determined by the "doctor's examination." The spokesperson also admitted D'Souza did not cause any nuisance, which is why they "did not inform him to the police, but merely escorted him out."

Kuwait Airways did not respond to Mirror's questions. The Air Passengers Association of India said even if a passenger is drunk and creates a ruckus he or she should be handed over to CISF personnel. "This should be condemned," said Sudhakar Reddy, president, APAI. "The airline or the airport should conduct a breathalyser test before offloading any passenger. I will take up the matter with concerned airline and airport."

Anyway, D'Souza denied he had consumed any alcohol and said he fainted on his way to immigration. His family has taken his blood sample within eight hours of the incident and have sent it to a lab for testing alcohol content.

"My brother-in-law dropped me at the airport by midnight," said D'Souza. "I rested for a couple of hours before check in opened. I then got a boarding pass and was waiting for immigration when I fainted. It must have been around 3 am. That was the last I remember."

At 3.30 am, D'Souza's wife Amy got a call from an airport official who identified himself as only Subodh. He said D'Souza was found drunk and has been offloaded from the flight.

"He said if we do not come within a couple of hours, they will hand over John to the police," said D'Souza's brother-in-law Agnello Pinto. "My sister told Mr Subodh John was a diabetic and has had hypoglycemia attacks before, where he suddenly faints. She pleaded with Mr Subodh to give John something sweet to revive him. But the airport official said there is nothing he can do till we reach."

It was 5 am when Amy and Agnello reached the airport. An unconscious D'Souza was slumped atop his luggage on a trolley outside Gate No 2. Amy rushed to him and managed to force some sweets into his mouth. Within 15 minutes D'Souza was up on his feet.

Hypoglycemia is a medical emergency where blood sugar levels fall drastically. Doctors said a hypoglycemia attack in a diabetic person can be lethal and even be fatal.

"For a diabetic, a hypoglycemia attack may lead to seizures, stroke, severe brain damage and even death if not attended to on time," said physician Dr Pratit Samdani, attached to Jaslok and Bhatia hospitals. "The best way to reduce the damage is to give the patient sugar pops or sugary drinks if he is conscious or by giving glucose injections if he is unconscious. And this seems to be like a very lucky case. It is likely that his counterregulatory hormones managed to work overtime and averted the damage."

After reviving D'Souza, the family confronted airline and senior airport officials, including the doctors on duty. "The airline told us they offloaded John and his luggage only after the airport doctor certified him unfit to travel as he was drunk," said Agnello. "To our surprise the doctor had not done a breathalyser or blood test before certifying him as drunk."

D'Souza is recovering at a hospital in Mira Road. Doctors, who said he was out of hypoglycemia, were performing MRI scans and other tests on him. "Being a Sunday, we won't get the reports, but we have given his samples to prove he did not have even a drop of alcohol in his system," said Agnello. "He could have gone into a coma and died. We will ensure the guilty are punished and the attitude at the so-called world-class airport changes."