A risky evacuation from India during the pandemic
2 min
“As it is impossible to get him into a hospital in India at that point, we know we have to evacuate him quickly.”— Catia Oliveira
A Story by Catia Oliveira, Project Manager and Nurse, AXA Partners
20 April 2021
We had a situation with a family that was living in New Delhi, India. It was the start of the country’s second wave of Covid-19. I think we all remember the apocalyptic images coming out of India at that point. Hospitals were full and running out of equipment and resources – oxygen in particular. The father of this family rings us to say that he had developed Covid-19 symptoms, and he’s worried about his children – one of whom is just a baby and has already been hospitalised for respiratory issues. He’s nervous about giving it to his family and asks to be repatriated back to France. We start looking into it straight away, but his condition worsens rapidly. He has difficulty breathing and chest pains and is in desperate need of oxygen.
"He had Covid and was stuck in New Delhi, with no access to healthcare. We knew we had to get him out - and there wasn’t much time."
23 April 2021
The one stroke of luck in all this is that his wife is a nurse. So, she is able to relay very precise medical information about his health to us. When we manage to do a scan of him, we see that it has reached two thirds of his lungs. As it is impossible to get him into a hospital in India at that point, we know we have to evacuate him quickly.
25 April 2021
We manage to find a place for him in a hospital in western France, and an air ambulance with an intensive care team on board. By the time we manage to get all of the authorisations for the flight, it’s ten days after his symptoms have begun, which is normally when things start to deteriorate.
28 April 2021
The plane leaves Europe after having obtained all the necessary authorisations from the various authorities.
29 April 2021
Our team isn’t allowed to pick him up at home, so we have to get an ambulance to bring him to us at the airport in New Delhi. Getting on a plane is risky, because the changes in pressure can have an impact on respiratory function. And, while we were relieved to see our client on the plane, we learned that there had been a complication during take-off – and even thinking about it now gives me frissons – our client had to be intubated. If we hadn’t managed to get him out in time, if we hadn’t had that team there around him, it could have been a very different story.
30 April 2021
The plane touches down at about 3 a.m. in Bordeaux, where he’s immediately taken to the intensive care ward.
3 May 2021
He recovers quickly in hospital, and he is already ready to be discharged after just a few days in ICU. He’s reunited with his family. Six months later they fly back to India! It’s really stories like these that remind you why you do this job.
