International SOS conducts First Cross-Straits Air Medical Evacuation

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 14 June. John Williams, Managing Director of International SOS in China, who was heavily involved in the discussions that led to the agreement, said, “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 28 June. This operates direct flights by chartered passenger aircraft across the Taiwan Straits for emergency medical cases. 14 September saw 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 that the patient be evacuated home on an air ambulance, escorted by medical specialists to ensure that the patient’s medical condition remain stable throughout the flight.

A medical specialist team from the Beijing Alarm Centre, comprising an Intensive-Care-Unit trained doctor and flight nurse arrived in Guangzhou on 14 September 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 centres 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 are required to be evacuated or repatriated to Taiwan from Southern China have to travel by road ambulance to Shenzhen or Macau before they can be transported by commercial or charter flight to Taiwan. In this particular case, the travel time is reduced by three to four 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.”

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