Air ambulance/evacuation

[LORRIKIE]

Hi,

i am looking for advice/info on the above matter.

We plan to travel by road through botswana and zambia this year. Looking at getting some peace of mind beforehand

regarding medical emergency's that might occur.

All info appreciated.

Regards

lorrikie

[Bassfisher]

My dad was a member of “Wings of life” some time ago. They once had to go and pick him up from a remote location in Mozambique after he had a car accident and broke couple of bones in his neck.

[jaconell]

Hi,

i am looking for advice/info on the above matter.

We plan to travel by road through botswana and zambia this year. Looking at getting some peace of mind beforehand

regarding medical emergency's that might occur.

All info appreciated.

Regards

lorrikie

I would suggest making sure your comms are sorted as priority (satphone etc) and go from there.

Approach your medical aid, short term insurer and credit card service provider. Alternatively there are policy's (or amendments to current policy's) that may meet your requirement. Chat with your broker.

[Petri Oosthuizen]

My pal owns www.aerocare.co.za

If you need to WA him directly with questions let me know via PM.

[Henris]

Part of your homework, talk to Tuffstuff.

[KobusDJ]

MRI in Botswana.

https://www.mri.co.bw/mri-medical-rescue

https://aviapages.com/aircraft/a2-ahz/

.

[Estee]

I had Willis while living in Zambia. I am not sure if they do individual packages for travellers or if its only for employees on expat contracts.

But cover was good including air-evac

https://protectionreview.co.uk/produ...te-populations

Please research thoroughly before using any recommendations you might get here.

[Stan Weakley]

The best suggestion is to speak to your medical aid or to your insurance broker.
Many local medical aids cover air evacuations south of the equator and it might cost you no extra money.
Just make sure you travel with a reliable contact phone number or organize that you can contact your broker to act as an intermediary. It no simple matter to organize an emergency air evacuation from the Zambian bush. Do your homework before leaving.
A satellite phone is ideal although the cell phone coverage is surprisingly good in the Zambian countryside.
A dire medical emergency in any isolated area in Africa is unlikely to result in a favorable outcome unfortunately. As witnessed by the fairly recent death of a South African labor judge in northern Zambia after a black mamba snakebite.

[ed rouillard]

We contact our medical aid and insurer and confirm cover. We issue a letter and get written responses. This gives cover.

We chat to GP in Joburg and are able to phone to get them here to call authorities if needed.

Never had to though.

Last year Bev had a serious fall at Pipers in CKGR and broke her arm badly at 17h00 one day. Puncture wound as well. Could not raise the gate and drove through the night to get to gate. Could not raise anyone there and carried on. Drove to Serowe to gov hospital to get help eventually. I was aware that it had been built by RSA contractors and not too old. Aware that Orapa pvt hospital could also help but decided that Serowe would be quick and less risky. Rakops hospital hopeless. Considered phoning the Bots based forum members but did not have contact info. Did decide this could be a back up plan.

Interestingly the calls to RSA by cell on international roaming did not establish contact but luckily not needed.

[bones]

We are traveling to Gabon in the near future and took out insurance from global rescue.
Having said that we never took out anything like that for Botswana or Zambia.

[mfuwefarmer]

https://www.ses-unisure.com/medical-services/
https://www.ses-unisure.com/global/

We use SES for Zambia & DRC
Private health care has really improved in Zambia, even in Lubumbashi (DRC) we have a more than decent clinic (Diamant) funded by Canadians.

Make sure you have cover from your medical fund or get travel cover. Best is to consult your medical aid or travel doctor

[alannymarce]

Good advice above. It seems to me that there are three key elements here:

1) Being able to contact help - As others have noted a satphone is the best option. You need to make sure it's charged, that you have contact numbers for help, and that there's cover (Iridium is global, some others are not).

2) Being able to arrange medevac - this means knowing who can provide the service, what they need to know (for example, where you are and how you plan to get to where they can land - helicopters have more limited range but can land anywhere, the nearest fixed wing strip may be some way away and you need to know where it is and how to get there). It makes sense to contact medevac providers ahead of time so that you both know what's possible and have clarity on plans.

3) Having insurance coverage to pay for it - while lots of insurers claim to have medevac cover, this may assume that the insured party is in a car accident somewhere and all that's needed is an ambulance to the airport and a seat on a commercial flight home. It's a good idea to make sure that the cover includes a reasonable worst case, which is probably SAR followed by medevac with an IFR helicopter and crew to an ER followed by air ambulance transfer to your home hospital.

We have cover from MAPFRE. Colsanitas, and Assistcard (we retain the MAPFRE cover simply because I don't yet have long enough with Colsanitas for the full cover). We have never yet had to implement any of these, fortunately.

One more thought - you need enough first aid capability to keep the patient alive until you can reach the medevac point.

[Maryna]

For Botswana contact Okavango Air Rescue in Maun and buy medical insurance directly from them. It is not expensive and well worth it

[Tim Driman]

Hi,

i am looking for advice/info on the above matter.

We plan to travel by road through botswana and zambia this year. Looking at getting some peace of mind beforehand

regarding medical emergency's that might occur.

All info appreciated.

Regards

lorrikie

Hi Lorrikie: When ever we travel, we take out special insurance cover via our brokers. The company is called TIC https://www.tic.co.za/ ... Make sure that you also get them to include specific CASEVAC Cover (Casualty Evacuation) When you use their cover you just need to phone one central office, and they will handle everything from there... Make sure you understand all their Terms and Conditions, and have that number handly at all times.

We travel a, lot in sub-Saharan Africa and there are some basics that you should do when every you travel
1) Make PDF Copies of every passport, all your vehicle registration documents, (If your vehicle is being financed, you need a clearance from the insuraer, giving you authority to travel..Make a PDF copy of that too) ALL those douments should be accesible to you on your cell phone. *Caarry two sets of copies of all your vehicle and passport documents , motor insurance etc in two separate plastic file folders... Keep each folder in a different place, and keep your working folder with you. On the outside write you Engine Number ; Chassi Number (VIN) Passport numbers of the vehicle so you don't have to dig to find anything. *I have had an engine change - done by Toyota SA, and while I have all the nessary documentation, I still require a valid, up to date Police Clearance which get's done on a regualr basis.... Police Clearances are done at specific stations only. Find the correct one in your area, and have it done a month before you leave...
2) Lodge all those document copies with somebody at home, or in your office in case you need to contact them in an emergency, and provide them with a Power of Attorney to do things on your behalf, in your absence (* You really don't need to be stuck somewhere in a foreign country, under stress, and then have to deal with an issue without decent communication facilities... It's better to have your proxy do all that stuff on your behalf..Which is why you give them the nPower of Attorney and all the PDF documentation that they may need..) (** Always provide that person/s witha trip, route plan of your movements, in case they are asked to verify where you should be...
3) Make sure that you advise your bank/s that you will be in a foreign country at various times, because if they see somebody in Zambia/Botswana suddenly cashing an amountb on one of your cards, they will shut it down, if they don't have your advice that you will be travelling *Make sure that the cards that you are carrying are accepted in those countries! Nedbank doesn't work in our experience, so we carry FNB cards... Just saying..) ** Also make sure that your cards have pins that allow you to draw cash at an ATM in a foreign country...!
4) Because we travel so frequently, we have purchased our own satellite phone which goes everywhere with us. If you get your own, then make sure that your data and talk time (Prepaid) is sufficcient, and kept topped up. If you miss a top-up date, you will lose any spare minutes you have accumulated...! DO NOT think of a Sat Phone as expensive, or a luxury...It is an essential part of African travel, and a heck of a lot cheaper than having to spend money after the problem, and trying to sort out a mess where there is little communication... Trust me on this! *Make sure you have it loaded with all the telephone numbers that you could need, and make sure that your "base" person/office also has that number of the Sat Phone handy at all times.
5) Wev always travel with 2x GPS units...One loaded with Trax4Africa (For which you should always have the latest update!) and the other is also loaded with the latest Trax4Africa, but set to Street Maps..You would be surprised to know how often the two do NOT agree with each other... One is also a back-up which gives you a warm fuzzy feeling...
6) ALSO carry a set of the latest paper maps, which give you an idea of perspective when planning or following a route...
7) I make a point of taking out 2x International Driver's Licences for each of the vehicle occupants of my vehicle (ZAR 150.00 each at the AA, and make sure you cover all the countries, as well as the surrounding countries, and take it out for the longest period they allow..My last one was 1 year..and if I am ever asked for my driver's licence, I hand one of the international licences over, and NEVER my original which I carry in my wallet. If some clever policemant decides to play games and hold your license while ask for a bribe of sorts, I just drive off, leaving them with the paper license... That cop will never chase you, or do anything to track you down..Trust me on that8) Always be pleasant, polite and never back-chat a police person at a road-block etc.. Just swallow it if they get clever, and keep smiling. If you give it back to them, they have the upper hand, and it will cost you!

I have been in the logistics and transport industry for over 40 years, and can assure you that travelling with no logistics plans is a recipe for disaster! Take the trouble to plan carefully, and plan ahead...

If you need to chat, please feel free to drop me a message on Face Book Messenger with your email address, and I will make contact. My FB is simply my name Tim Driman

[royjacobs]

Hi,

i am looking for advice/info on the above matter.

We plan to travel by road through botswana and zambia this year. Looking at getting some peace of mind beforehand

regarding medical emergency's that might occur.

All info appreciated.

Regards

lorrikie

Hello Lorrikie,

If you are Discovery Health member then you have full cover for 'Repatriation' back to SA.
This is part of the 'Africa Travel Benefit'.
Applicable to the following medical aid plans on the Discovery platform:
Executive, Classic, Essential or Coastal Plans.
This is a totally different benefit to the Global Travel Cover.
Hope this will help you if applicable.
As others have already mentioned, key is having a broker or Advisor who is available when an emergency takes place.

Roy

[Stan Weakley]

..................

I have been in the logistics and transport industry for over 40 years, and can assure you that travelling with no logistics plans is a recipe for disaster! Take the trouble to plan carefully, and plan ahead...

In my opinion Tim's advice is 100% correct. Too late to cry once things have gone wrong.

[royjacobs]

Stan is partially correct here, always bear in mind that unless you are evacuated straight back to SA, you will always be liable for your costs and then these will be reimbursed back to you once the ‘claim’ has been assessed by the insurer’s.
Also always remember that these are ‘Insurance’ based products with limitations and exclusions which need to be taken into account.
Medical Aid is exactly that, a medical aid product. Ever tried booking into a hospital with a ‘Hospital Policy’ with an insurer.
I have actually dealt with these types of claims over the last 30 plus years and you need to be very aware of the cover provided.
Roy