Medical evacuation of oil rig workers diagnosed with COVID-19

Overview

International SOS provided medical evacuation to 23 oil rig workers of a large oil company who were diagnosed with COVID-19.

Service: Medical Evacuation
Location: Bassora, Iraq to Rome, Italy

Problem

Our client reached out to us and were concerned about their employees who were diagnosed with COVID-19, and needed to be evacuated from their site in Bassora, Iraq, to Rome, Italy. The employees were very eager to return home to Italy, and our client was worried about the challenges posed with the evacuation of contagious patients on a commercial flight.

Solution

After communicating with our client, we were on hand to identify a wide-body aircraft that was willing to transport COVID-19 patients. We mobilised our medical teams who onboarded the flight, and a health assessment of the employees that were to be evacuated was carried out before departure: PCR tests and medical evaluations of each person's condition. The aircraft was safely organised with buffer zones, separating individuals who were diagnosed with COVID-19 from those who tested negative. Moreover, a briefing was given to the passengers in Italian prior to the flight.

Impact

The impact was very positive as we were able to support with the safe evacuation of our client's employees, and were able to maintain business continuity.