Oman Air joins the race to provide Covid cover to travellers

Oman Air is introducing complimentary Covid-19 medical cover, which is applicable to all Oman Air passengers issuing tickets from 1 October 2020 and onward, the company says on its website. The cover includes:

• 24/7 Covid-19 assistance,
• Emergency medical assistance up to €120,000,
• Quarantine accommodation cost up to €100 per day, and
• Repatriation costs.

The insurance doesn’t cover passengers with Omani Resident Card (non-citizen) travelling to Oman, and it also doesn’t cover the cost of PCR tests, which are mandatory before arriving at Oman Airport.

Oman Air will provide direct payment to hospitals and clinics

On its website, Oman Air writes: “It is mandatory to obtain the pre-approval from Oman Air Covid-19 Assistance Team, your expenses will only be settled directly with the clinic, hospital of other medical or non-medical facility. If you pay, you will not be able to claim these expenses later.”

Customers sometimes get caught out by stipulations such as pre-approval for medical treatment, as often in emergency situations, travellers will first go directly to their nearest hospital, or consult their hotel for advice on the best place to seek treatment. However, Oman Air’s providing 24/7 assistance through its assistance team, which can be contacted either by phone or email, should hopefully prevent any unhelpful confusion. What’s more, direct billing will be an invaluable factor for customers who won’t want to shoulder out-of-pocket costs for healthcare.

One only wonders whether this – the pre-approval stipulation – means there will be a specific, and potentially small, network of approved facilities for treating these travellers. While Oman Air tends to operate in and around the Middle East, where healthcare is generally very advanced (in the UAE for example), is it possible that those travelling with the airline to less medically advanced destinations might find medical assistance, or access to high-quality medical care, a little less smooth. All this no doubt depends upon the assistance provision and breadth of NEXtCARE Health’s medical network, which is providing the 24/7 medical assistance service.