Medics await autopsy report on man who died on repatriation flight

File photo
File photo

TT MEDICS are awaiting the results of an autopsy said to have been done on a TT national who died on a repatriation flight to Piarco from New York, to determine if his passing had anything to do with covid19.

Responding to questions at the Ministry of Health’s virtual press conference held on Monday, Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram said the 61-year-old man’s autopsy will further guide the procedures to be taken with the rest of the passengers on that flight.

For now, the other passengers are expected to continue with the regular procedures when returning from medium- to high-risk countries. They will underg seven days' quarantine in a state-controlled facility, and will be tested on the first and seventh day.

Flight 3525, which left JFK International Airport at 7.20 pm on Saturday, was expected to arrive with about 100 TT nationals before midnight on that night. But while the flight was in Puerto Rican airspace, the 61-year-old man fell unconscious and could not be resuscitated.

The flight was rerouted to Puerto Rico, but by the time it landed he was said to be dead.

Parasram said the autopsy was done by doctors there.

At the press briefing, Parasram said the Ministry of Health gets involved with the repatriation process after an exemption to enter TT is granted. He said repatriating people with pre-existing conditions happens frequently.

“If there is someone who requires a medevac, meaning that you have a critically ill person who has to be brought into TT by medical ambulance, we would have been alerted previously.

"When they do get here, we have an ambulance here at the airport and we have the necessary nurses and physicians on the quarantine sites. So if someone gets ill we will be able to deal with them quickly and get them to a hospital if need be and assess them at secondary or tertiary care,” Parasram said.

He saidthe medical team in TT was prepared for the return of the flight, but was informed of the death and the reroute of the flight.

All other information on the man’s death will be shared with his family, either through anairline representative or through a male relative of the dead man who travelled on the flight as well.

Newsday understands the flight landed in TT just after midnight on Sunday.

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"Medics await autopsy report on man who died on repatriation flight"

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