From March 1, 2008, Mondial Assistance is offering a new product for airlines that will help them deal with medical emergencies in the air more efficiently. This is not only beneficial to the traveler, who will receive better emergency medical care, but also to the airline, which will be able to save costs.
Allianz.com News spoke to Gerhard Müller, head of the medical care unit of Mondial Germany, who explains how the new service works.
Mondial Assistance helping airlines to save lives and costs
Mondial Assistance is the market leader in assistance and travel insurance
Allianz.com News: How often do medical emergencies happen on flights?
Gerhard Müller: Everyone thinks of such radical stories as a baby being born in the air or a heart attack. Such events are very seldom. However, some ten passengers per major airline get sick on a flight every day. Up to 40 times a year, the large airlines have to do an emergency landing to get a sick person to hospital. When you calculate the costs of that – such as airport tax, extra gasoline, connecting flights, and hotel accommodations – this is not a dismissible figure.
And of course the risk for the sick passenger is immense. There is not always a competent doctor on board. Not to mention what happens, if the plane lands at a location where the hospital care is terrible.
How can Mondial Assistance help airlines?
Müller: Mondial has years of experience in assessing hospitals and airport medical centers all over the world. We do this as part of our travel assistance business, and our data base "Marco Polo" is extensive. We know for example that the medical care in one country or at one particular airport is excellent, while the care at the neighboring airport might not be. Airlines who become "Inflight Medical Support" customers have access to our data.
Large airlines have up to 40 medical emergency landings each year
So what happens during an in-flight emergency exactly?
Müller: Airline staff in the air can contact our 24-hour hotline. They speak to a medical doctor who can assess the situation of the sick person based on detailed questions. Our doctor can give advice on how to deal with the symptoms. And if our doctor sees that the patient needs to get expert care on the ground, he can advise the airline staff via our database on which airport is nearby and where the best medical treatment can be found.
Sounds very simple. What is so special about this service?
Müller: We are the first company to offer this service. But we like to think that the service is not so easy to duplicate. As the world's leading assistance provider, Mondial Assistance is large enough and has enough experience in order to have the necessary data, and thus is really able to help.
Mondial Assistance Group: an intervention every three seconds around the world
International leader in Assistance, Travel Insurance and Personal Services, today the Mondial Assistance Group counts more than 8,550 employees who speak 40 different languages and work throughout the world with a network of 400,000 service providers and 180 correspondents. 250 million people, or four percent of the world’s total population, benefit from its services, which the Group provides on all five continents. The Mondial Assistance Group is a member of the Allianz Group.
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