New trans-continental medical evacuation partnership offers lifeline to global travellers
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2010
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Hardly had the ink dried on the paperwork sealing a brand new mutual-service agreement between RMSI MEDEVAC and Netcare 911 when the first major, joint trans-continental mercy flight between the two large aeromedical evacuation specialists was undertaken.
Reflecting on the events that culminated in what is described as a ‘text-book perfect’ evacuation of a seriously ill 32-year old male from Windhoek in Namibia via Dubai to Shanghai in China, Netcare 911 International Business Development Manager James Crawford-Nutt says that the case has truly reinforced the significance of inter-continental partnerships.
“A service offering of this nature is absolutely invaluable for travellers and insurance companies looking for life saving yet cost effective solutions. While we are well positioned throughout sub-Saharan Africa we have been on the look out for the right inter-continental partner who is well positioned particularly in the Eastern and Asian markets. We attended the 17th International Travel Insurers Conference, held in Athens in November last year with the explicit objective of setting up inter-continental routes with other reputable air ambulance providers. Our enquiries there lead us to RMSI, a company with considerable experience in the provision of medical evacuations throughout the Middle East, Central Asia and Northern Africa and a fellow-member of the International Assistance Group,” explains Crawford-Nutt.
According to Rob Lamb, President and CEO of RMSI, the two services enjoy many synergies and a partnership between the two “made perfect sense”. He adds that: “when it comes to repatriation local knowledge is indispensable. RMSI offer an incomparable service to North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia while Netcare 911 are experts when it comes to sub-Saharan Africa. It was only natural that we should bring the two together in order to be able to provide a seamless service throughout these regions.
Air ambulances often need to be able to get in and out of countries quickly and land at remote airports at any time of the day or night if they are to provide an effective service. Patients and their insurers can count on RMSI Medevac and Netcare 911 to offer this service.”
Medically insured business and leisure travellers who become critically ill while abroad require rapid repatriation, mostly to their home countries. While on route they will require expert medical treatment that will, more often than not, literally sustain their life. On the other hand, insurance companies providing such cover would want to fulfil the needs of their customers, while ensuring that the service on offer is both time and cost-effective.
These sometimes conflicting sets of needs are not always easy to balance, especially when patients need to be evacuated from more remote areas, and insurance companies need to be sure to carefully select an air ambulance service provider that has adequate coverage of the areas concerned, expert local knowledge, state-of-the-art equipment and exceptional personnel.
The patient requiring repatriation from Namibia to Shanghai had a pre-exiting medical condition. He became seriously ill while on business in Windhoek, Namibia, and required urgent repatriation to his home country where his doctors were familiar with the history of his condition. The Netcare 911 Aeromedical division was able to fly from South Africa into Windhoek at short notice in a fully equipped and staffed Hawker 800 jet air ambulance to Dubai, UAE, where a RMSI Hawker was on standby to take him home.
In Dubai the transfer of the patient between the two air ambulances took all of fifteen minutes and the patient was kept stable and safely flown home to Shanghai. While he is still very ill he is now stable and with his family. He is also in the capable hands of the doctors that are familiar with his specific case and medical history, according to Crawford-Nutt.
“When buying travel insurance people want to know that they can be repatriated if they run into serious medical difficulties,” points out Crawford-Nutt. “They want to be treated by their own doctors, want to communicate with medical practitioners in their own language and, most of all, have their families at their side. All of these are very important factors in ensuring the ultimate recovery of a patient. When seriously ill or injured most patients just want to know that they will be taken home as quickly and safely as possible. This is literally why people buy travel insurance and why it is so important not to let them down.”
Lamb observes that in this case because the journey to Shanghai could be staggered between Africa and the Middle East, the two services could use their dedicated Hawker 800 air ambulances and complete the mission in one continuous hop, similar to a relay. He explains that services trying to cover an inter-continental journey of this nature independently would have had to use a significantly larger aircraft and especially configure it into an air ambulance. This would mean that the aircraft would have been less well equipped and less well suited to repatriating the patient back to Shanghai. It also would have taken much longer to complete the evacuation as due to limits on pilot duty hours, the provider would need to pre-position a second team of pilots at a half way point to allow such a long journey to be completed without stopping overnight. He says the smaller aircraft are also extremely cost-effective to run.
“The alliance between Netcare 911 and RMSI will ensure substantial savings in cases requiring repatriation,” suggests Crawford-Nutt. ‘In the Shanghai case the use of smaller aircraft and other factors ensured just such a saving.”
Lamb re-emphasises that the mission to Shanghai would not have been so successful if the two services did not possess extensive local knowledge, dedicated air ambulances full equipped for any medical emergency, and expert doctors and medical personnel who could treat the patient appropriately.
Netcare 911 Aeromedical division operates mainly in Africa and surrounding islands and its aircraft cater for local, international, short and long-range flights. Its two fixed wing aircraft are permanently configured as air ambulances and are fully equipped as airborne intensive care units.
“Our air ambulances are staffed by highly qualified medical doctors with extensive experience in emergency medicine and intensive care,” continues Crawford-Nutt. “They are backed by experienced intensive care and trauma trained nurses and/or advanced life support paramedics. The aircraft utilise the latest in intensive care equipment and the environment within is equivalent to those of an intensive care unit.”
RMSI offers air evacuation throughout the Middle East, Central Asia and Northern Africa. It has extensive experience in bringing medical solutions to remote or hostile areas. Lamb says the service has a “holistic approach” to medical interventions in such environments, and has developed systems, capabilities and other resources that enable it to understand and respond to on-ground security challenges and medical realities to which clients are exposed.
“This new partnership between RMSI and Netcare Aeromedical division is a win-win situation for everyone,” concludes Lamb. “It provides patients in our areas of operation with improved access to life saving emergency evacuation services, and insurance companies with effectual, cost-effective solutions. Insured travellers to these regions will never again need to feel vulnerable as expert help is always on hand.”
Source: Martina Nicholson Associates
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