Traveller Assist was activated by an international travel insurer based in London, England to provide medical assistance for an expat who was bitten by a rabied dog while visiting the favelas in Medellín, Colombia.
The hospital where the patient was being treated for his wounds would not accept a letter of guarantee for payment from the insurer, and they would not provide any medical records, or further information, and had stopped answering their emails.
Our medical assistance team contacted the hospital who confirmed that they would accept our guarantee of payment letter. Our Case Manager explained that they would need to release the medical report and medical expense bill to us, without payment, so that we could confirm coverage.
They understood, and immediately released all medical reports and medical expense bills to our assistance centre. After forwarding the required documents to the travel insurance company, the underwriters confirmed coverage and we issued the letter of guarantee for payment.
The hospital cleaned the expats wounds, and he received a total of 37-stitches to his hands and arm. In addition, he was treated for rabies with a postexposure prophylaxis consisting of one dose of human rabies immune globulin.
Our staff then booked appointments, and arranged transportation for the following required doses of rabies vaccine given again on days 3, 7, and 14 after the bite.