Exclusive flight saves the life of an American baby

By Yang Lifei  |   2008-12-23  |     ONLINE EDITION

AS an effort to save a new born baby from the United States, the Civil Aviation Administration of China opened a temporary flight line to take the sick infant from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to Hong Kong.

The one-month-old boy who was identified as Arestan in a Chinese story on Yaxin.com has been in stable condition after receiving treatment in Princess Margaret Hospital in Hong Kong and his parents decided to take him back to the US when his condition improves.

Arestan was rushed to Urumqi No. 1 Hospital, affiliated to Xinjiang Medical University, by his worried parents on December 15 when his breath and heart beat had already stopped. Arestan was born in the US but was taken to Yili, Xinjiang, soon after his birth as his parents planned to make a study of Kazakh language there, the Website said today.

Five days ago Arestan had suffered from cold when the family transferred flights at Istanbul. After their arrival at Urumqi, his condition deteriorated and on the early morning of December 15 the infant had difficulty in breathing, according to the report.

A doctor confirmed the boy's sickness and conducted immediate treatment. The hospital formed a special team to care for the baby. However, the next morning he showed signs of organ failures and his life was in great danger.

The parents then made contact with a US insurance company who immediately found the International SOS Pte Ltd. The agency demanded to take Arestan to its branch in Hong Kong where Arestan could not only receive treatment but get his medical insurance, the Website said.

An official with a Beijing-based aviation service company together with three medical experts of the International SOS Pte Ltd arrived in Urumqi on December 18 and decided to set off the next day.

"However, following examination on the sick boy, medical experts decided not to take the direct flight line from Urumqi to Hong Kong as the baby's heart could not sustain the pressure of the original flight height,'' Huang told the Website. "Thus our company applied to the Civil Aviation Administration of China for a new route from Urumqi to Hong Kong via Xi'an (Shaanxi Province).''

The application was soon approved. "This is the first time to open a new chartered flight line since the Sichuan earthquake in May. The boy is the youngest passenger of such a chartered flight,'' Huang said.

Finally the aircraft took off at 11:39am the next day, the Website said.