Baby Yazan Yousif Qade of Yemen would have died had it not been for the effort of a brave team of South African medics.He had been born with a heart defect in Yemen, a war-torn country to which no emergency air service was willing to fly.Yazan, the 29-day old baby, needed emergency surgery and to get it, required the help of a group of brave South African medics, who were willing to head into a war zone to fly him out."When we were approached by Alliance International Medical Services to take on this medical evacuation, we were told that our counterparts in other countries, including the United Arab Emirates and Europe, were unwilling to undertake this highly complex mission," said Bruce Johnstone, chief executive of Medair.Despite the difficult and dangerous situation, Netcare 911 and its medical aviation partner, Medair, felt compelled to help.Two local companies had already said no to the rescue.Netcare 911 paramedic Kenneth O'Connor said though there was war in Yemen, risk analysts assured the flying team there was no danger to them.To enter Yemeni airspace, Netcare 911 had to get permission from the Saudi military.This took more than a week to organise, with the help of the Department of International Relations and Co-operation."It was quite a complicated operation," said O'Connor.In order to get to Yazan as quickly as possible, the flight crew flew to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia and waited for the approval.After more than a week's wait, the clearance was granted and the team flew their Hawker 800 into a Saudi military base.From there it was a quick flight into Yemen.After twenty hours, Yazan arrived at the Lanseria airport on Friday at 5am.He was operated on that afternoon, at the Sunninghill hospital, while his mother waited. The surgery was a success."Twenty-hours is a long time to keep a critically ill patient in the air," said Doctor Kevin Hjul, adding that medical rescue flights were usually not longer than eight hours.After the operation, Yazan and his mother were flown back to Yemen, where he is expected to make a full recovery."This special baby crept deep into the hearts of the staff and doctors here at the hospital. We are so pleased he has recovered so well," said Sister Ina Kok of the paediatric cardiac unit...