Treatment station set up in airport as passengers fall ill

HEALTH professionals were forced to set up a temporary treatment station in Cork Airport late on Saturday night after 15 passengers on a plane from Tenerife starting vomiting.

Before the plane touched down the pilot contacted the airport to alert them to the problem and a team including emergency department consultant Chris Luke, a nurse, GP and an advanced paramedic with four ambulances and a mini-bus were dispatched to the scene to meet the passengers who had been advised to stay in isolation on the plane. The medical team were in contact with the HSE South’s Department of Public Health.

“I felt that because the hospitals’ emergency departments were so busy anyway, it was best to go to the airport, establish a forward aid station and vet the people at the scene,” said Dr Luke.