A doctor is being hailed as a hero after dramatically saving a man's life mid-flight by sucking urine from his bladder.
Doctor Zhang Hong, who is head of vascular surgery at the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, treated an elderly man with a blocked bladder using just a few onboard items and his own body.
The incident, which was caught on camera and published online by Asiawire, reportedly took place during a China Southern Airlines flight from Guangzhou to New York this week.
Several hours into the flight, cabin crew called for help from any onboard doctors after finding the man in his 70s in a lot of discomfort and needing medical assistance.
"The pensioner's abdomen was bloated, he could not sit still and was sweating a lot," Dr Zhang told media.
"He was going into shock and may have suffered a risk to his life if we didn't tend to him urgently."
Dr Zhang says he was informed that the man had a history of prostate enlargement and found his bladder was overloaded as he was unble to relieve himself.
If the urine wasn't released quickly, the bladder could rupture - which can be fatal, and the flight was hours away from any potential standby paramedics.
Without professional medical equipment, Dr Zhang fashioned his own using a portable oxygen mask, a syringe needle, a bottled milk straw and tape. With no instrument able to remove the urine, Dr Zhang used his mouth to syphon it out after puncturing the man's bladder.
"There was no other way. I didn't think too much about it. I only wanted to help him extract the urine retained in his bladder," he said.
Over a reported 37 minute period, 700-800ml of urine was sucked out of the patient and spat into an empty wine bottle.
The procedure meant the man was kept in a stable condition until the plane landed and he was able to be taken to a hospital.
Video of the heroic act has been shared online, reportedly amassing tens of millions of views in less than a day and an outpouring of praise for Dr Zhang in comments.
