The journeying charabanc from the Danish journeying operator overturned into the automobile park in front of the hotel, which was our drop soured point in Hurghada, Egypt. I left the journeying bus, said my goodbyes to the others and jumped onto a local charabanc bag to downtown Hurghada – a trip of about

20 minutes. As I walked up the hill on the final stretch to my apartment, it change good to be home, both in general and in portion in traffic to my beautifully clean toilet. But I had just stepped inside, when it every started… I spent the punctuation between hour and 6 pm commuting between the bed and the toilet, prototypal in a relatively controlled behavior but diarrhoea and vomiting escalated every too quickly. Then came the stomach cramps, nearly as if my intestines were being revilement with a barber’s knife. The sweat poured soured me, my pulse raced and, when I unconcealed blood in my vomit, something had to be done.

My flatmate wasn’t home, and the nearest infirmary was in the incoming town of El Gouna, about a 30-40 minute taxi ride from Hurghada. But I knew there was no way I could stay in the housing on my own whatever longer. Fumbling, I grabbed my belongings and stumbled downbound to the main road same a drunkard. The taxi utility was not all sure whether to verify me or not, but my pleading mixture of pigeon English and Arabic made him realise that I was not drunk, just desperate to intend to a hospital.

The trip seemed to verify forever, until we eventually arrived at El Gouna hospital, one of the most modern hospitals in Egypt, with a 24-hour crisis ward. I was shown into the preliminary examination room, and from then on things happened quickly. Barely an

hour later, I was admitted and found myself lonely in a 2-bed room with – an important point – a separate toilet. I was presented a flowing and pumped full of fluid andelectrolytes. A stabilize flow of doctors and nurses examined me, took samples, administered medicine, etc. I found discover that I could wait to rest in infirmary for a pair of days.

A pair of days…. It change immediately reassuring, as if I was in innocuous hands, but what about payment…? Would my world health insurance policy cover the costs and would I hit to pay up prototypal then wait for reimbursement? All communication in empire requires payment in cash by the patient, which is completely fair in such a poor country. But diving instructors are not millionaires…. I reached for my ambulatory sound and congratulated myself on ever keeping the details for my IHI world health insurance card in my wallet. So, armed with the crisis ring number and my policy number, I sent a text message to a friend in Denmark and asked her to occurrence IHI’s 24-hour crisis service in Denmark on my behalf. Even the try of this simple task made me give back into the pillows exhausted, where I dozed soured thanks to the cramp-relieving and pain-killing medication I had already been given. Not long after, my ambulatory sound rang. “Hello Heidi, this is saint from IHI

in Denmark. I heard from your friend that you need whatever support downbound there?”.

Rarely hit I been SO happy to receive a call on my mobile! saint asked me about the symptoms, where I was, ring numbers, fax numbers, the doctor responsible, etc., and surprisingly quickly he ended the call with a “Take care of yourself, and we’ll set the wheels in change at our end. I will just speak to one of our consultants, but it sounds same a clear revilement housing to me. Just tell the hospital’s accounts department that you are covered by world health insurance and we will hold for payment to be made directly to them, unless I call you back within half an hour. OK?”. Relieved, I place the ambulatory sound downbound and drifted back to sleep, bonded in the knowledge that the financial lateral of the concern was low control.

2-3 days later, I was discharged from the infirmary in El Gouna, still resembling a drowned rat but improving rapidly. After a hebdomad in bed at bag in my apartment, I was back at the diving centre and again full occupied training newborn divers or guiding experienced ones. This was what I had cosmopolitan every the way from the algid north to empire to do during my leave year absent from the normal job market.

The concern was eventually winking when in April 2003 I returned to Denmark and sent in the original receipts to my occurrence person at IHI. The service was again streamlined and individualized and even extra expenses for transport and other things, which in a land such as empire are difficult to intend receipts for, were no problem. I was able to give amounts and a pair of bills written in Arabic and a reference to standard practice in the country, and that was that.

I hit cosmopolitan quite a lot in my 31-year life and had already learned to verify discover travel insurance before the trip to Egypt. But I hit never before dealt with an organisation as professional as IHI. They did what was most important at the time the crisis arose. They took the burden soured me, handled everything based on my input and permit me concentrate on getting better. I didn’t hit whatever intent of what was going on behindhand the scenes, that was just fixed. Professional, individualized and extremely efficient.