Expectant Mothers Allowed To Fly MAS Up To 36th Week

KUALA LUMPUR, July 10 (Bernama) -- Expectant mothers in normal pregnancy of up to the 36th week can travel on Malaysia Airlines' (MAS) international and domestic flights without formal approval from the airline.
However, she must produce a medical certificate signed by her doctor stating her fitness for air travel, MAS said in a statement, here Monday.
The medical certificate must be seen by MAS personnel and kept on file, it said, adding that expectant mothers beyond this stage of pregnancy would not be accepted for travel.
MAS said that in the event an expectant mother up to the 35th or 36th week of pregnancy checked in at the airport without a medical certificate from her doctor, she might be allowed to travel provided she signed the release and indemnity form.
MAS was referring to news reports about a woman passenger delivering a baby girl on board its Kuala Lumpur-Kuching flight on Tuesday night, 25 minutes before the aircraft landed in the Sarawak capital.
Norhaizan Sharbini, 44, gave birth to her third child at 7.05pm on board Flight MH2538 which landed in Kuching at 7.30pm. The flight from Kuala Lumpur took one hour 45 minutes.
The baby was due only on July 23 and Norhaizan, who is from Sarawak, was returning to her home state for delivery.
A private general practitioner from Kuching, Dr Wanali Tuanku Mahdi, 54, who was on board the Airbus, helped deliver the baby.
"In the case of last Tuesday's incident, the passenger was in her 36th week of pregnancy. As she did not produce a medical certificate from her doctor, she agreed and signed the necessary release and indemnity form before she was allowed to check in for her flight to Kuching," the MAS statement said.