'Sick' AI pilots not found at home: report

The striking outstation pilots put up at a five-star hotel complained of loose motion and vomitting while some of them reported backache in their medical reports but doctors found them medically fit, the summary said.

The summary of the medical condition of the striking cockpit crew triggered an angry reaction from Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh who said it was "sad" the pilots are taking recourse to claims of falling sick to stay away from work. Singh said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation(DGCA) will take action against them.

"You and me both know that we didn't need this report to understand what we knew from day one...In fact the Indian Pilots Guild's(IPG) Chief has been openly saying 'kal aur sick ho jayenge'(tomorrow more will fall sick)," Singh said, suggesting that the claims by pilots were bogus.

According to the medical summary, about 48 out of the 53 Delhi-based pilots who reported sick were not found at home or their residences found locked and their mobiles unreachable.

Loose motion, vomiting, body ache were found to be the main reasons in the medical reports of the pilots residing at Hotel Hyatt.

Nine out of 18 outstation pilots, who were staying at Hotel Hyatt, complained of bad stomach, loose motions, vomitting but none of them was found dehydrated, the summary said. Complaints of lower backache were reported by four outstation pilots but doctors found them medically fit.

The sick pilots were also not reported to doctors empanelled by the carrier, according to the summary.

Wanting to get to the bottom of the bout of 'sickness', Airline sources said reports of pathological tests carried out on some of the pilots are also being awaited. The opinion of specialists are also beeing sought in 25 per cent of the 'sick' cases, the sources added.

"If they have reported sick but were found fit or not found at their houses as reported in the aviation ministry's medical summary, then the DGCA will take necessary action against them," Singh told reporters.

The pilots have been calling in sick and not reporting for duty in protest against rescheduling of training programme of Dreamliner and issues related to their career progression.