India's 'Florence Nightingale', going to receive nursing award, saves soldier's life in plane

An Indian nurseflying to capital Delhi from the southern state of Keralatoreceive recognition for her job saved the life of a fellow passenger on the flight.Geetha P was travelling to attend a ceremony honouring recipients of the Florence Nightingale Award for Nurses. Just 30 minutes after takeoff, the cabin staff issued a call for emergency medical assistance.

Soldier Suman, who wastravellingto Kashmir, had fainted in his seat and displayed no signs of having a pulse."I started CPR [Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation] when he was on his seat," Geetha told the BBC.

"One of my colleagues had collapsed like this in the hospital and I had given CPR and rushed her into the cardiac intensive care unit. There were several other cases too in the hospital. But this is the first time I had to do this on a flight," she said.

Geetha and other previous winners had been invited to Delhi by President Droupadi Murmu to receive their awards. She had earned the national prize in 2020, but owing to the Covid pandemic, the celebration had to be done online.

She also participated in the fight against Covidand disaster management efforts amid Kerala'ssevere flooding in 2018 and 2019.

(with inputs from agencies)