Queensland doctor humiliated by Virgin after wheelchair incident at Brisbane airport
- Dinesh Palipana fell from his wheelchair at the airport
- He was being treated by a member of staff at Virgin Airlines
A well-known wheelchair-bound doctor has told how he ended up on the floor of an airport after a shocking mistake by airline staff.
Dinesh Palipana, a senior doctor at Gold Coast University Hospital, was pushed in his wheelchair by a Virgin staff member at Brisbane Airport last week.
Dr Palipana was on his way to board a flight to Melbourne when the worker ‘took a hard turn with the wheelchair’ causing Dr Palipana to fall and hit the floor.
Dr Palipana, who was Queensland’s Australian of the Year for 2021, has since received an apology from Virgin.
Queensland’s first quadriplegic medical graduate said it was the first time such an incident had happened despite being a frequent airline traveller.
Dinesh Palipana, a senior doctor at Gold Coast University Hospital, was being pushed in his wheelchair by a Virgin staff member when she ‘took a hard turn with the trolley’ and he fell out
“I was a little embarrassed… I was shocked and I couldn’t believe it happened,” Dr Palipana said. 7 News.
Dr Palipana said the staff member had earlier been ‘a bit dismissive’ of his team of two carers, who had tried to advise staff on how best to handle his wheelchair.
He will have to undergo scans to determine if he is injured.
A spokesperson for Virgin Australia told Daily Mail Australia that the airline ‘sincerely apologises’ for the incident and is conducting an investigation.
“Virgin Australia sincerely apologizes and deeply regrets the incident at Brisbane Airport and has communicated this directly to our guest,” he said.
“We immediately launched an investigation into the incident and will continue to work to ensure this does not happen again.
“Virgin Australia takes its responsibilities to support guests traveling with specific needs, including mobility assistance, extremely seriously.”
Dr Palipana said accessible air travel had been “an issue for the disability community for a long time”.
“We have to do better with air travel,” he said.
Virgin Australia said the company ‘sincerely apologises’ for the incident and is conducting an investigation
Dr Dinesh Palipana (centre) was Queensland’s Australian of the Year for 2021
Last month, a Qantas passenger was ’embarrassed’ and had to crawl to her seat when airline staff threw her out of her wheelchair as she boarded a connecting flight from Melbourne to Mildura, in Victoria. where he lived
Nikita Bennett, who suffers from cerebral palsy, was also forced to wait half an hour to be fitted with a wheelchair, despite Qantas being given advance notice of her requirements.
Ms Bennett said that as she was boarding after the delay, she was knocked down by an airline employee.
“He pulled really hard and the chair came out from under me, and I basically fell over,” she said.
“It was embarrassing, it was done in front of a whole plane of people.”
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