Is there a doctor on board?

“Is there a doctor on board” is something you don’t want to hear at 35,000 feet over the Pacific or Indian Ocean. But even if there is no doctor on board, services and equipment are available to help airline crew deal with in-flight medical incidents, provide care for a passenger in need and allow a decision to be made as to whether or not it is costly to divert the plane.

Medical events occur about once every 600 flights, according to MedAire, which supplies airlines around the world with medical equipment and training and operates the global 24/7 MedLink in-flight medical advisory service, connecting airline crew with doctors on the ground. MedLink’s doctors are headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, with a Mandarin-speaking service in Beijing and a German-speaking service in Frankfurt, as well as assistance centers around the world.