16.06.2020

Air ambulance GVA
In the times of COVID-19, repatriations of seafarers requiring medical escort by regular commercial flight seem an impossible mission. But is it really impossible? Not for GVA. Let’s check it out.

A seafarer from the Philippines requiring immediate medical attention was disembarked in the South of France at the beginning of May 2020. A couple of days later a very serious disease was diagnosed in a local medical facility. There was no time to wait, and the first course of treatment started in the local specialty hospital. The world’s strictest epidemic regimen ever faced by nations around the Globe raised a huge problem for the ship owner. The patient needed repatriated as soon as possible to continue his long-going treatment in the Philippines, but he would not be able to tolerate the 24-hour ground-and-air multiple-connection journey home without proper medical attention during his trip. On the other hand, a medical professional to escort him home cannot further stay under long quarantine at the destination… A perfect “catch-22”. A “Mission Impossible”. In fact, not for GVA.

A week of non-stop hard work by the assistance team of GVA with numerous administrations in France, Philippines, and Qatar made the mission possible. The repatriation plan’s checklist contained several dozens of important steps to be accurately completed by the Assistance Coordinators and Doctors of the GVA Alarm Center. It was a difficult case full of challenges and solutions for sake of the safety of the patient, and he finally found himself on his way home in a regular flight and his escorting nurse beside him along the way. He landed in Manila in stable condition on June 05 to meet his family and to continue his treatment at home.

Another successful commercial flight medical repatriation by GVA, but now in the times of COVID19, proved that goals may be achieved and impossible missions complete when a professional team takes care of it.

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Global Voyager Assistance and the Seafarers’ Union of Russia assisted with the Russian cargo ship crew evacuation in South Africa