ITIC Global 2021: Assistance, Air Ambulance and Hospital considerations

Working together in a cohesive and safe manner has allowed air ambulance and assistance services to operate throughout the pandemic. But has Covid exposed weaknesses in existing medical networks, and if so, what have assistance companies done to remedy the problem?

Dr Cai Glushak, Medical Director at AXA Assistance USA, said even with the vaccine, testing is still necessary and variants continue to spread, not to mention Long Covid, which continues to be a prevalent health risk. For travel, this means vaccines and testing are the only solution, and quarantine on return will most likely continue to exist for some time in certain regions and countries.

Dr Glushak also spoke about the digital transformation assistance companies went through: “Telemedicine was and is a solution. We’ve had to bring these services online to meet demand and avoid unnecessary visits to the emergency room. We’ll have to adjust the methods to channel people into this, in terms of steering them to this option as much as possible.”

Rory O’Gara at Allianz International Health explained that Allianz faced many challenges on the onset of the pandemic, but instantly developed support structures to be there for its members. He added that Allianz Partners offers specific Covid-19 support, including cover for Covid-19 tests, an expatriate assistance programme, a website for Covid-19 questions and answers, as well as a medical assessments helpline specifically for Covid-19 symptoms.

In its three-tiered approach, Allianz Partners focussed on communication, regional profiling and legislation, according to O’Gara, making sure a baseline protocol for all three was in place, which is key to everchanging rules. “Government restrictions are very reactive and changing goalposts,” he said, “for example in Ireland, we see a spike of Covid-19 cases again at the moment.”

Dr Simon Forrington, Medical Director at Gama Aviation, said the air ambulance world was a different place in early 2020 compared to now. There were a lot of unknowns – how infectious is Covid-19? What is the natural progress of the disease? Antigen and PCR testing wasn’t as accurate or speedy as it can be now. Plus, there were shortages of masks and portable isolation units, posing a risk to both clinicians and patients. Guidelines were changing daily, sometimes within the day, making it difficult to adapt.

Now in 2021, however, things have changed for the better, said Dr Forrington. We know more about the disease, there is a vaccine and testing has increased. Plus, quarantine and travel rules are relaxing, making medical transports easier. “I hope we won’t see too many variants. It worries me to see countries with low vaccine uptakes. But I’m optimistic.”

You can read the latest news from ITIC Global 2021 across 1-4 November, including our coverage of a group discussion between battleface, Mapfre Assistencia, and Tokio Marine Global Travel Group about how the travel insurance sector has responded to the challenges following Covid-19.