The most frequent question that has been popping in the minds and mouths of most people this year is “When will this pandemic end?” As 2020 winds down, and the COVID 19 vaccines become available across the world, there seems to be a glimmer of hope for an end to a pandemic that has devastated lives and livelihoods around the world.

The COVID 19 outbreak is one of many events that have made 2020 a year like no other. From the ensuing public health crisis— and its toll on diverse communities, mental health, and emergency medical care, the year has brought more change than many could have imagined.

In spite of the challenges that characterized the year 2020,

• We received requests from 65 countries (38 international, 27 regional)
• We received  20 COVID 19 air ambulance requests
• We received 292 non-COVID 19 air ambulance request
• We have monitored nearly 2000 patients at our remote clinics
• We delivered over 5,000 medical items at the peak of the COVID 19 pandemic
• The total number of persons on our Medical Evacuation Cover is about 350
• We have over 700 personnel on our retainers plan

Below is a summary of our year in view:

January

• We started the year by training all our medical doctors working in all our remote site services across the country on emergency and primary healthcare in both ALS and BLS.
• Also in January, we successfully executed our first Medical Evacuation of the year from a moving vessel. We have a compilation of our stories from the sky. You can read them here.
• We also had a team retreat in a hotel in Lagos. This was to strategize and plan our activities for the rest of the year.

February

• The training for medical doctors continued in February. We also provided additional support to the maritime industry for medical evacuations and emergency support.

March

• In March, we achieved a 100% renewal for all our Medical Evacuation Covers
• We also partnered with top African banks and other financial institutions for Medical Evacuation Cover. This ensured that additional 1000 persons have access to prompt emergency medical evacuations in medical facilities across the world. 
• Our team members spoke at the British Business Group on COVID19. One of our flight physicians and in-house lab scientist spoke about testing and its importance in curbing the virus.

April

In April, due to the challenges caused by the COVID 19 pandemic, we launched a telemedicine platform to support our MedEvac cover clients. This gave them unhindered access to physicians, ICU doctors, and other caregivers despite the restrictions caused by the pandemic.  

May

In May, we launched the first-ever Isopod for COVID 19 transfers in West Africa. This was a remarkable achievement for us as it has enabled us to perform safe and contactless medical transfers for patients who have tested positive to infectious diseases such as the COVID-19, within Nigeria and outside the country. We wrote more about it here.

In the same month, we successfully executed our first COVID 19 medical evacuation from a moving vessel in the south-south region of Nigeria. 

June

Testing remains an important criterion in the fight against COVID-19 and this explains why we launched our COVID 19 corporate testing in June. Till date, we have been able to run well over 6000 RT PCR tests for different organizations and corporations. 

July

In July, we started a collaboration with one of the largest and biggest aerospace conglomerate (Embraer) to create a unique stretcher for our air ambulance interior to enable more ease of patient’s transfer. 

August

In August, we extended our COVID 19 services to corporate personnel screening and health surveillance. 

September

• In September, we renewed our partnership with one of the regional airlines to offer cost-effective air ambulance transfers across the region. Read more here.
• We hosted a webinar series on Medical Evacuation Cover Plan. You can watch the replay here.
• We were also recognized in September by the World Agility Forum as a customer service Leader. Read about it here.

November

In November, we successfully transferred 2 critical burn patients from a large gas explosion site that happened in the South-East region of Nigeria. This explosion resulted in multiple burn casualties in varying degrees of burn. 

December

The month of December has been more of an appreciation period to both our existing clients and staff that have worked tirelessly to ensure we surpass the expectations of our clients. It is also a time where we reflect on our entire activities for the year to identify areas where we had performed well and areas that require improvement in view of the coming financial year.  

We are grateful for the opportunity to save lives when every second counts and we look forward to doing more in the coming year.