Dr. Rashid Riaz, an NHS doctor from Hereford, helped save a woman’s life using an Apple Watch during a flight from Birmingham to Verona. The woman experienced shortness of breath, and Dr. Riaz was able to use the Apple Watch’s native health-monitoring software to measure her oxygen levels tending to her condition while speaking to her in Urdu. This allowed him to effectively monitor and maintain her saturation levels until they landed in Italy.
Dr. Riaz, who works at Hereford County Hospital, praised the Ryanair staff who dealt with the emergency but called on all airlines to consider having emergency physician kits as standard. These kits would ideally include tools to take basic measurements, diabetic and blood pressure meters, and an oxygen saturation monitor. He stated that having these tools easily accessible can save someone’s life in an emergency situation and emphasized the importance of improving in-flight journeys with this sort of emergency using readily available gadgets such as the Apple Watch. Dr. Rashid Riaz’s heroic actions and call for improved in-flight emergency medical kits has brought attention to the necessity of readily available tools to assist individuals in need during travel emergencies.