Jason Gunn was treated by Queenstown vet during mid-air medical scare

Broadcaster Jason Gunn was treated by a Queenstown vet on an aircraft flying over Central Otago during a mid-air medical scare. Photo / File

Broadcaster Jason Gunn was treated by a Queenstown vet on an aircraft flying over Central Otago during a mid-air medical scare.

Gunn was about 10 minutes into a flight from Queenstown to Christchurch on July 22 when he got into difficulty, passing out after overdosing on medication.

Vet Ngaire Dixon stepped in when an Air New Zealand flight attendant asked for help.

''He came around about five minutes before we landed, so it would have been 20 minutes he was quite critical for.

Vet Ngaire Dixon stepped in when an Air New Zealand flight attendant asked for help. Photo / Otago Daily Times

''He was pretty sick but we managed to get him through it - there were a lot of sick bags passed backwards and forwards.''

Dixon is used to dealing with animals that have overdosed or are having heart problems - ''it is quite similar [to humans].''

She added: ''He didn't bite or scratch me like a lot of my other patients do.''

When it comes to a vet treating a human, she said ''one of the things that we can be really reassured about is that there's not a lot of difference between the species''.

After the episode, Gunn publicly praised his animal doctor on radio station More FM.

Despite spending a night in hospital, he said he was fine and had learned a lesson about the perils of overdosing on medication.

Dixon said Gunn had been extremely grateful.

''He said, 'you know, I'm quite grateful because they do shoot horses'.''

Gunn was also in the wars in Queenstown early last year, breaking two vertebrae after tumbling out of a wheelie bin near his holiday home.

Then in February this year Gunn (48) had a heart attack at a Christchurch gym and spent time in a Christchurch hospital.

- Mountain Scene