# Urgent Help/Advice Evacuating Patient Back To UK



## Gounie (Jan 27, 2011)

We have a British lady in El Gouna hospital who urgently needs to fly to the UK as they have found a tumour on her brain and she is in a confused state.

They haven't found any insurance for her so there is a problem with her tavelling with the doctor on the flight. The doctor must have hospital liability insurance.

She has a villa here and just arrived back end of November. They found a phone and laptop but no chargers. The phone was charged and they have made contact with next of kin and her GP but cannot get her on a flight because of the insurance and the seriousness of her case.

The Honorary Consul is aware and has visited her and attended meetings at the hospital. We have been inundated with advice and help but no solution has been found.

If anyone knows the exact procedure to get her on a flight with a doctor please can they call El Gouna Hospital because they cannot find a solution which means the patient will have to go to Cairo for the operation without any fiends or family. They cannot even find and don't think there are any family members.


----------



## Ineedhelp2014 (Nov 2, 2014)

What happened to the lady?


----------



## Gounie (Jan 27, 2011)

The lady is now safely back in the UK. My friend posted some very important advice for ex-pats on our town's forum which I share with you all below:

_I recently became involved in helping a fellow British owner/part-time resident who was taken seriously ill shortly after arriving in El Gouna. Her sudden illness resulted in almost complete loss of memory and she needed an urgent operation which could not be performed in El Gouna or Hurghada. The choices were either to travel to Cairo for the operation or to return to the UK. Given that on-going treatment would be needed after the operation, a return to the UK was the preferred option.



Her situation raised a number of issues which I share below for your consideration. Whilst I realise that the specifics relate to UK nationals, the generalities are probably relevant to all expatriates in El Gouna. I know I open myself up to accusations of morbidity in writing this, but I hope the thoughts below will be taken in the spirit of helpfulness with which they are intended. With driving conditions as they are in Egypt, the possibility of a serious road accident for example is ever-present. 



Should you become mentally and/or physically incapacitated in El Gouna, what would happen?



1. Access to your home here (eg to fetch personal items to hospital): Who has a key?

2. Contact with next of kin: Have you written this information on the page in your passport? And, should you lose your passport, who in El Gouna has the contact details of your next of kin in the UK?

3. Payment of hospital bills: (The Embassy will not cover your bills.) Do you have health/travel insurance and carry the details with you? Who can access your funds, eg if you cannot remember your PIN/get to the bank? Does anyone have power of attorney?

4. Contact with your GP in the UK: Who has the contact details of your doctor in the UK?

5. Return to your home country with medical assistance: We discovered that, even though the funds were available to pay for this, it is virtually impossible to arrange without medical insurance. Medical staff from here cannot get a UK visa. International companies specialising in medical evacuation deal with insurance companies, rather than individuals.



Clearly, in such circumstances, there are other issues but these were the immediate problems. I, for one, have made it a New Year’s Resolution to prepare the answers to these questions._


----------



## TommyJ (Mar 2, 2015)

*Can you help?*

Dear Gounie, my wife and I have been desperately trying to contact our close friend (our daughters godmother) since she stopped answering her phone or replying to emails before Christmas. I have just seen your post above and would be grateful if you could send me a private message if the lady's initials are C.G. and if so, if you have any further information about when she was flown back here, and what the receiving hospital was? We're really worried about her, she doesn't have any immediate family to support her and she has not returned to her UK home. Hope you can help. 
Tom


----------



## Gounie (Jan 27, 2011)

Hi Tom, I have just tried to send you a private message but I think you need to make at least three posts on this forum before you can receive private messages? It sounds like the lady you are concerned about is the lady mentioned.


----------



## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Gounie said:


> Hi Tom, I have just tried to send you a private message but I think you need to make at least three posts on this forum before you can receive private messages? It sounds like the lady you are concerned about is the lady mentioned.


Since this is a unique & important situation, I've just changed Tom's settings so that he has access to PMs - it might take a little while to take effect, but you should be able to PM him soon


----------



## Gounie (Jan 27, 2011)

Thank you Xabiachica. I was allowed to send a message to TommyJ. I hope it worked because I cannot see it in my sent folder.


----------



## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Gounie said:


> Thank you Xabiachica. I was allowed to send a message to TommyJ. I hope it worked because I cannot see it in my sent folder.


you don't have your settings to save automatically to the 'sent' folder, so maybe that's why?

I hope you get this sorted out


----------



## TommyJ (Mar 2, 2015)

Thank you for this Gounie and the moderators, yes it is the right lady. We've been in touch with the contacts you gave and we know where she is and will be able to visit her this week.

Thank you so much for your help and for responding so quickly, it sounds like you've been a great support to her in El Gouna. 

All the best
Tom


----------

