Case study

Car crash injuries required emergency evacuation to specialist facilities

A Syrian MP seriously hurt in a car crash was airlifted more than 2,400 km (1,500 miles) to a specialist hospital for life-saving treatment – thanks to his Bupa Health Insurance cover.

Saleh Al-Mallah suffered severe spinal injuries in an accident in his homeland. He was taken to a local hospital in Aleppo, but doctors there decided he needed to be transferred to a facility in Karlsbad, Germany, which has an internationally-renowned spinal treatment centre.

Twenty-four hour international medical support
Bupa’s agent in Cyprus, Nicos Rossos Insurance Agencies Ltd, was alerted to the case and arranged the move with International customer service people in the UK and the business’ emergency assistance service.

The case was handled from Cyprus by Despo Nathanael, senior healthcare consultant. An air ambulance plane with a doctor and nurse on board was despatched to Syria and flew Mr Al-Mallah to a hospital in Germany. He underwent surgery there within hours of arrival and is now recovering well.

Quick to act
In a letter to Bupa, the MP praised the company for "reacting immediately" to his evacuation needs. He said the local authorities in Syria had "greatly appreciated the way that Bupa treats its members".

Mr Al-Mallah wrote: "I would like to thank Bupa’s agent in Cyprus for what they did to speed up the formalities of my evacuation, as well as customer service staff in the UK and International SOS."

Pride in our service
Harris Antoniades, managing director of Nicos Rossos, said: "I really felt proud of how well the Bupa team handled the case. Our member received the best possible treatment, in the best possible hospital. We made sure that Bupa was there when it really mattered."

Serious heart condition tackled while working abroad

Leif Egeholm Nielsen works for an international IT company and is insured with Bupa through his job. His insurance proved of great use to him during a stay in Austin, Texas, where he suffered a heart attack

In July last year, I went to Austin, Texas to attend a work-related, five-week workshop. I was put up in an apartment located approximately one kilometre from the office, so that I could walk to and from the workshop. One morning, I felt slightly unwell during my walk to the workshop, but I told myself it was because the temperature was 35°C with a humidity of 80-85 percent. As soon as I was back indoors, I felt well again. In the afternoon when I walked home and the humidity was lower, there was no problem.

After 14 days in Austin, I started jogging in the evening with some colleagues. Even though it had only been a couple of months since the last time I went running, I was in such a bad way that I could only run for one kilometre before I had to stop and take a break. I felt as if my larynx was constricted, so I could not breathe. My left arm was also aching and I could not remember ever experiencing that before.

One jogging trip too many

I defied the physical discomfort and continued jogging. But one night I felt worse than the other times, so I chose to run to an indoor fitness centre where it was cooler. Unfortunately, I could only manage getting to within 50 metres of the entrance before I passed out. When I regained consciousness after a couple of minutes, my colleague had already stopped a car to call an ambulance.

When the ambulance arrived, the paramedics quickly established that my blood pressure was too high and that my heart was not beating regularly. It was obvious that I needed to be taken to the emergency room, so I told them that I had insurance.

My colleague got my insurance card containing both policy number and contact details, and met me at the hospital shortly after. After approximately an hour I was informed that contact to Bupa had been established and that all expenses would be covered. Of course, that information gave me one less thing to worry about. Five hours later, I was transferred from the emergency room to a room in the cardiology department. The plan was to examine me the following day and then, depending on the test results, undergo a balloon angioplasty.

In contact with Bupa doctors

The next morning I was phoned by a doctor from Bupa who confirmed that they would be on the sideline during my hospitalisation. This was the first time I spoke to a Danish doctor and that alone was reassuring, even though the US doctors and nurses all were incredibly professional and competent and took their time to explain things to me.

I was operated on at noon, and when I regained consciousness an hour later, the doctors explained that my lower coronary artery was 80 percent blocked. I had undergone a balloon angioplasty with stent placement to keep the artery open. Everything should now be in order and I already felt considerably better.

For the following days, I was in contact with the doctor from Bupa who helped put my mind at rest. In the meantime, my wife had also been in touch with Bupa who had arranged for her to travel to the US to see me. I was discharged from the hospital the next day.

Thankfully my wife arrived a day later. She had been much more worried about me than I had about myself, so the help from Bupa really meant a lot to us.

Travelling home in business class

Due to the surgery, I was not allowed to fly home for another week. Bupa arranged for my original flight ticket to be upgraded to business class, which meant I got a better seat with more legroom. It was also important to me that I got more choice in the food, including more fruit and vegetables.

Now, two months after my trip, I feel significantly better. I have changed my food and my exercise habits radically and little by little I have started to work again.

Good advice

There is a lot of good advice to pass on from this story.

• Exercise is a good thing. It is true that I collapsed during a run. However, had I not provoked that collapse, it would have happened at a later stage, and the consequences could have been fatal. Now, the only thing I have to do is take medicine, ie beta blockers to prevent me from getting a high pulse. I am already able to ride a bike for 45 minutes, and I will probably be able to start running again soon.
• Be aware of your body’s warning signals. High blood pressure, weight on the chest and pain in the arm under strained conditions are all typical symptoms of something being wrong. I ignored all those symptoms on the pretext that these might be caused by the heat and humidity. If I had not exercised and thereby provoked the collapse, I would probably have been able to carry on as usual for a couple of weeks, but sooner or later it would have happened.
• I had insurance and I had brought the documentation with me. That made things much easier and the help we got from Bupa significantly eased our minds during a difficult time.