Africa Tops List for Health Evacuations

More people are evacuated from Kenya for medical reasons than anywhere else in the world.

This is the experience of Bupa International, which handles over 1,000 calls a month to its worldwide medical assistance helpline.

African countries dominate the global ‘evac map’, with Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Angola making up six of the top ten countries for medical evacuation. In fact, half of all the evacuations undertaken by Bupa International every year originate in Africa, with South Africa remaining the leading country to be evacuated to.

After Kenya, Russia is the second most common country for evacuation, while Indonesia takes the third spot and China is joint fourth with Nigeria and Uganda.

Bupa International’s medical evacuation data shows that heart disease is the main cause of people being airlifted or driven overland to receive medical treatment. Cancer is ranked second, while orthopaedic conditions such as back and neck problems take third place.

Dr Sneh Khemka, Bupa International’s medical director, said: “For many countries in Africa, medical evacuation cover is a ‘must have’. We often do not feel that the local medical facilities are adequate to deal with the patient safely, or the services required are simply not available. If you need an air or road ambulance urgently, medical evacuation cover provides peace of mind, taking away financial worries at what would already be a very difficult time for you and your family. With a full air ambulance evacuation costing in excess of £50,000, being caught out can be very costly.

“It is vital that people living and working overseas remember that not every insurance policy is the same. We know that our customers rely on us to have an in-depth understanding of the health facilities in every country in the world, so we can guide them appropriately when they need us through our 24 hour multilingual helpline. Our emergency medical team of highly-trained doctors, who are experts in high altitude diseases, tropical infections, patient evacuations and home transportation are also available around the clock, ensuring that if the need arises, our customers receive the best treatment without delay.”

To see, or not to see, DVT is the question! The risks of living abroad.

As expats living abroad most of us are frequent travellers and know about the various little quirks that can help when you’re flying off for a visit to the land of your Fathers or returning to the sunshine after 2 miserable weeks in the cold light of grey that is the UK. Asking for a seat by an emergency exit will usually give you more leg room, keep you away from young children and larger framed cousins. Dressing neatly may enable you to get an upgrade for your return flight abroad and the discussion as to whether to sit near the back of the plane or the front can pass endless airbourne hours as we return to our lives overseas.

Thanks to the Leiden University Medical Centre there is now another consideration. Since time immemorial the traveling public have always made a dash for the window seat. The chance to watch the majestic countryside roll past, or below, being much more of a draw than watching the back of someones head for a number of hours. But now, those of us living abroad have another risk to bear in mind. Apparently sitting in the window seat can increase the risk of Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) two fold. Being obese can increase the risk of DVT by 6 times. The Leiden Centre thinks that the increase may be caused by the fact that passengers using window seats are usually slightly more cramped which increases the risk of blood clots on long haul flights.

There is however good news for those of us frequent travellers who live abroad. Those good chaps at the Leiden University Medical Centre also report that one alcoholic drink can reduce the risk. So maybe by extrapolation quite a few will decrease it further….worth some investigation!

Five Reasons To Go Overseas For Medical Care

It certainly does not come naturally, to think of going overseas when we are told that we need major surgery or involved healthcare or dental work, or even when we would like cosmetic procedures done. After all, trips overseas are for holidays and happy times, they take a lot of planning and they are for fun, not medical duty…right? The answers are yes, they are for holidays and happy times, but they do not necessarily need excessive planning, and they can definitely combine fun with medical duty. We explore the top five reasons why medical tourism is exploding in popularity.

Price
This is the top reason cited for people to travel overseas for medical care. For example, if you need dental work done, you could be paying a tenth of what you would at home, for the same standard of work, at a hospital in Bangkok or hospitals elsewhere in Thailand, or at some of the excellent Indian facilities. India is currently the lowest priced option for which most Westerners will be satisfied with the quality of treatment, and at hospitals in Bangkok Thailand, or in South America, prices are slightly higher for extra services like help with passports, liaison with doctors in your home countries, and translators to make things easy for you.

Service
If you have ever been in hospital, you know how busy and stressed many of the staff are, simply because of low staffing levels, long hours that must be worked and a general reluctance to ‘serve’ others. Hospitals in Asian countries like Bangkok hospitals, Mumbai hospitals and Brazilian hospitals often don’t face these challenges. Registered nurses are much more plentiful in these countries, as there is less aversion to personal contact with people. You can often expect to be escorted around hospital grounds to find other departments, and be treated with extreme courtesy. Rooms in Bangkok Hospital Medical Centre at the highest level include extras like flat panel TVs, a large living room, two complete bathrooms and a city view, as well as Wifi and meals for three included in the price.

Quality
We tend to assume that if something is cheaper that it must be of a lesser grade. This is simply not so, with some of Bangkok’s best hospitals, like Bumrungrad and Bangkok Hospital having the majority of staff trained outside Thailand. In India, many doctors are trained in Europe and the US and speak flawless English – the care for medical tourism is only cheaper due to a much lower cost of living in these countries.

Availability
Every different country has different procedural restrictions – where laws may prevent you having stem cell therapy or IVF treatment in your home country, this is often not so if you choose medical tourism. Even common, legal-in-all-countries procedures often have enormous waiting lists in Western countries. Essential surgery can take a year to be performed in Canada, whereas in the best hospitals in Bangkok it can be arranged almost immediately.

Tourism
This is one of the most compelling reasons to go overseas for many! Recuperation can only be aided by having a gorgeous seaside view, and no housework to do, when you have just had major surgery. The savings that you will make in the cost of care usually more than cover a stay in luxury hotels in medical tourism countries – and you have a ‘free’ holiday