Dr Wendong Qin, from Shandong province, came to the rescue using traditional Chinese medicine techniques, as the aircraft did not have the necessary Western medicines.



A party comprising 25 senior pupils from the Bishop Challoner School in south-east London were returning from a nine-day school trip of a lifetime when a number of them started to vomit after being affected by a suspected case of food poisoning picked up in their last meal in their hotel in Bejing.

Concern mounted when the worst affected individuals became severely dehydrated and went into shock part way through the 11-hour flight.

Dr Qin immediately responded to a call for medical assistance from the pilot and was able to use his expertise in the ancient art of Chinese medicine to relieve the symptoms that the teenagers were suffering from.

He spent much of the flight using acupuncture pressure points and giving massages to the pupils that relieved their stomach cramps, headaches and shock.

The crew area at the back of the Boeing 747 was turned into a field hospital as more and more of the group became ill.

Dr Qin told the Herald: "About four-and-a-half hours before we arrived in London, the pilot sent a message asking if there was a doctor on board. I went to see what was wrong and found many boys and girls suffering sickness and diarrhoea accompanied by severe stomach pains and a high fever.

"The aircraft did not have the necessary medicines so I decided to use traditional Chinese methods, including acupuncture. Unfortunately, I had no needles, as you are not permitted to carry sharp objects on an aircraft, so I used my fingers instead on the acupuncture points of the boys worst affected and the symptoms lessened.

"I treated each patient for 10 to 15 minutes and they felt much better, the sickness and diarrhoea had stopped and the pain had gone."

Before he had treated the teenagers, Dr Qin said that the pilot had considered making an emergency landing at an alternative airfield, but afterwards felt confident enough to fly on to London.

On Monday, Dr Qin started work at the Meridian Clinic at 244 High Street, dispensing traditional Chinese medicine and herbal remedies to an ever growing clientele.

His first impressions of Scotland are positive. He thinks the scenery is beautiful and the people are very friendly.
Surprisingly, he also likes the rain, which is plentiful, as he says, it cleans the air and brings out the green of new growth.

Read the full story in this week's Arbroath Herald