Fed: Delays, difficulties beset ill Australian travellers

AAP General News (Australia)
12-21-2003
Fed: Delays, difficulties beset ill Australian travellers

Doctors are warning travellers that taking out insurance doesn't guarantee them urgent
medical treatment should they become ill overseas.

The warning in the latest Medical Journal of Australia comes from doctors working on
the tropical island of Vanuatu.

They note six recent instances of Australian travellers being refused evacuation or
delayed by up to two days, and the difficulties of getting through on so-called 24-hour
hotlines.

Vanuatu is less than a three-hour flight from Brisbane, but doctors ROBERT GRACE and
DARREN PENNY say it can be hard getting insurance companies to evacuate policy-holders
in need of better care than that available on the island.

In one case, a man with severe chest pain was told by his insurer to get an ECG and
fax it to them, only to find he was having a heart attack.

The doctors say the man was only evacuated after threat of exposure in Australian newspapers.

AAP RTV kbw/jmt

KEYWORD: EVACUATION (SYDNEY)

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