Kochi | The condition of a seriously ill two-year old child, who was airlifted to a hospital here from Lakshadweep by Indian Navy pilots in a daring night-time mission two days ago, continues to be critical, hospital authorities said on Friday.
The toddler is still on ventilator support and is battling pneumonia, an official at the Medical Trust Hospital here told PTI.
"There is no change in her health condition. She is still in a critical stage and on ventilator support," he said.
The child is unconscious, he added.
Hailing from Agatti Island in Lakshadweep, the girl was airlifted to the state hospital in a Naval Dornier aircraft following acute breathing issues.
The toddler, who had aspiration pneumonia, was in respiratory failure and had suffered febrile seizures. She was accompanied by her mother, uncle, and a medical doctor, and was taken to the Hospital here.
On receiving an urgent fax on Wednesday evening at the Headquarters of the Southern Naval Command (SNC) in Kochi, seeking assistance for medical evacuation from a Naval Officer in Lakshadweep on request of the administration of the Union Territory, the Navy had taken up the medical evacuation mission forthwith.
After more than an hour-long flight, the aircraft which took off from Kochi touched down in Agatti airfield, located over 450 km west of the coastal city in the Arabian sea. The Dornier then returned to Kochi carrying the two-and-a-half-year-old and touched down at 9.50 pm, completing a nearly three-hour mission. The child was immediately shifted to the hospital.
