A medical check-up of the staff of Indian airline carrier Air India revealed that many of the cabin crew were overweight. The medical examination has been pending for around five years and it was found that one in every four flight attendants was overweight.
During the checkup, many life threatening ailments among the staff were detected. Some of these included heart diseases, cancerous growths, cholesterol and diabetes. Many of the airline’s employees came to know about their diseases for the first time after the checkup. About 4,000 flight attendants at the national carrier were above 40 years of age and they were the ones who were fast-tracked for a medical check-up.
One of the senior Air India executives said, “We had two things in mind when we started this exercise: weight and general fitness. Though cabin crew treated it as punitive action, we think it has been a blessing in disguise for many”. The official also revealed that about 20% of the 1,500 cabin crew were detected with diabetes, cholesterol and hypertension.
The airline management has given its employees a time span of three months to get back into shape and those who fail to do so will be grounded and not allowed to fly.
