Hunting Healthcare

An offbeat escape can come with unreliable – or non-existent – local medical facilities. Dr Jane Wilson-Howarth explains how to find the right kind of help anywhere in the world…

Here in the UK the NHS comes in for a lot of flack, but while it may sometimes be hard to access the right clinician quickly, when things go badly wrong health-wise, you’ll get good care. Elsewhere, you can’t be so sure. The service may be there, but how do you find it? How can you know if the clinic is clean enough or the clinicians qualified to the right level? What if you have no language in common with the medic?

The first, and most obvious, precaution is to take out adequate travel insurance, and make sure it has a link with a medical assistance company. This is a service that has doctors, nurses and administrators that will be able to advise you on the phone if you have a crisis, including telling you where the nearest competent clinic is.

Your policy should also cover repatriation and, if appropriate, helicopter rescue. But be sure to read the small print of any policy; some expect you to go to a local public hospital where, although clinical standards may be adequate, communication may be challenging and you’ll probably end up queuing alongside many local people, even if you don’t feel well enough to wait.

PREVENTION IS THE BEST CURE?

One excellent strategy is to consider how accidents and illness might be avoided, so you won’t actually need healthcare. Your first measure should be to ensure that you are fully immunised against all relevant diseases, including flu. Influenza can not only be serious in itself, but can mimic all kinds of deadly infections that put you at risk of hospitalisation and at the mercy of enthusiastic surgeons.