Etihad Airways Explains Why Ailing Kenyan Woman was Removed from India-Bound Flight

Etihad Airways has defended itself against accusations of discriminating against an ailing Kenyan woman who sought to travel to India for specialized treatment.

This came after the woman identified as Wangare Ndumia, 25, was thrown out of a flight on Sunday by Etihad officials on grounds of not being fit to fly.

Wangari sought to travel to New Delhi, India, where she was set to undergo surgery at BLK Hospital, to repair her leg.

She was diagnosed with severe osteomyelitis- an infection of the bone- after she was involved in a road crash in 2017.

Etihad Airways Guest Relations Officer, Zeinab Al Faytarouni says the reason why Wangare was asked to disembark from the plane is that ‘she was in too much pain’.

“Our staff called Medlink (a global health body responsible in handling in-flight medical cases) and informed them of Wangare's current condition and to a count of 1-10, Wangari’s pain was at nine,” explains Zeinab as quoted by The Standard.

She also says that Wangare could not bend her leg and the seat allocated to her could not accommodate her.

Zeinab further explains that the airline's staff had a hard time moving Wangare from the wheelchair to her seat, which she had been reassigned at row 20.

“Wangari couldn't sit comfortably as it was difficult for her to bend her knee which was fitted with an Ilizarov apparatus, therefore, obstructing the pathway for other guests,” explains Zeinab.

The staff decided to contact Medlink for clearance as the patient was in much pain and was making noise as she was being transferred to her seat.

“At this point, Medlink had declined to clear her resulting to total offload and the same was explained to the guest as to why she was being offloaded,” Zeinab states.

“Ms. Wangari requested a business class seat which was costly,” adds Zeinab.

Wangare and her sister Ann are currently stranded at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) as they seek an alternative airline to India.