PHYSICIANS willing to assist during an emergency aboard flights operated by All Nippon Airways (ANA) can soon do so in a more efficient manner.
ANA will be introducing its Doctor on Board programme in September, where doctors can choose to be identified and registered in advance. Flight crew can then quickly and directly approach the medical professional should the need arise.
The volunteers must be registered doctors and a member of the ANA frequent flier programme, Maho Ito, a spokeswoman for the airline, told TTG Asia e-Daily.
Registration begins from July and the system is set to take off on international flights from September.
“The main reason we are introducing this is because there are more and more foreign visitors coming to Japan and we are expanding our international services to meet that demand,” said Ito.
“There is therefore an increased possibility of a passenger being taken ill during a flight and we want to have a system in place to deal with any eventuality.”
Given the possibility of language being a barrier to rapid and effective treatment, the system is also incorporated into ANA’s new Communications Board app. Carried by cabin crew, the i-Pad application enables a user to verbally translate phrases between 17 languages.
