Pre- and post-trip health evaluations are essential

Albie said companies were

waking up to the fact that

when they sent employees

out of the country for

work purposes they were

responsible for them at all

times while they were away.

 As a result The Travel

Doctor has a number of

forward-thinking corporate

clients who send their

employees or contractors

to them for pre-trip health

assessments.

He said as most

employees who travel

internationally tended to

be at a senior level, their

assessments often picked

up on chronic illnesses

such as heart disease and

diabetes that the traveller

was not aware of. He said,

on average, 49% of the

travellers they assessed

were fit for duty, 45% were

fit for duty with relative

contraindications that the

client needed to be aware

of, and 6% were declared

not fit for duty. Customers

are often prescribed with

tailored medical kits to

reduce potential health

problems while travelling.

The Travel Doctor also

does post-deployment

evaluations where they

screen for malaria, Lyme

disease, Lassa fever,

typhoid, tetanus, rabies and

hepatitis A.

Simmy Micheli, manager

– sales and marketing at

TIC, said it was notable that,

although TIC did offer senior

travel insurance policies,

travellers over the age of 70

were not covered for cardio

or cerebro-vascular diseases

at all.