International SOS Makes Historic Flight

International SOS has carried out the first direct cross-Straits medical evacuation since the signing of an agreement between China and Taiwan earlier this year, allowing direct air access by chartered flights across the Taiwan Straits for emergency medical rescue.

This is the first time since 1949 that any flight of this nature has been possible.

China's Cross-Straits Aviation Transport Exchange Council and the Taipei Airlines Association signed the agreement on June 14, 2006.

Said John Williams, managing director of International SOS in China, who was heavily involved in the discussions that led to the agreement, "We have been lobbying both authorities for 18 months to be allowed to set up this facility and our Cross-Straits Emergency Medical Rescue Service came into being on June 28 [2006]. This operates direct flights by chartered passenger aircraft across the Taiwan Straits for emergency medical cases. [This marks] the first operational flight and we are immensely proud to have been selected to operate the service."

A 71-year-old Taiwanese man suffered a stroke while visiting relatives in Dongguan, Guangdong Province and his family contacted International SOS. After reviewing his medical reports and consulting the local treating doctor in Dongguan, International SOS doctors recommended the patient be evacuated home on an air ambulance, escorted by medical specialists to ensure that the patient's medical condition remained stable throughout the flight.

A medical specialist team from the Beijing Alarm Center, comprising an intensive-care-unit-trained doctor and flight nurse, arrived in Guangzhou on September 14, 2006 in a dedicated air ambulance, a Hawker 800XP, to escort the patient home to Taiwan. The patient arrived in Taipei later the same day and was met by a doctor and nurse from International SOS Taiwan who escorted him to the local hospital.

International SOS alarm centers in Beijing and Taipei worked closely with the patient's families in Dongguan and Taipei, the local treating doctor in Dongguan and the receiving hospital in Taipei to ensure that the patient arrived home safely.

Dr. Charles Van Reenen, medical director, north Asia region, International SOS, said, "Prior to the availability of a direct service across the Taiwan Straits, patients who were required to be evacuated or repatriated to Taiwan from southern China had to travel by road ambulance to Shenzhen or Macau before they could be transported by commercial or charter flight to Taiwan. In this particular case, the travel time is reduced by 3-4 hours because we no longer have to do a stopover, go through customs clearance, and transfer the patient from the road ambulance to the air ambulance."

This article was prepared by Health & Medicine Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2006, Health & Medicine Week via NewsRx.com.

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