During the festive travel period, Flying Doctors Nigeria (FDN) remained fully operational to support urgent and complex medical movements. One of the challenging but rewarding cases we facilitated was a commercial medical escort mission to repatriate a 78-year-old patient, Mr. Seven, from the United Kingdom to Abuja, Nigeria.

Mr. Seven had a significant medical history including Type 2 Diabetes, Hypertension, and Chronic Kidney Disease. He also sustained a recent fall resulting in a displaced left hip nail, which severely limited mobility and increased the clinical risks associated with prolonged travel and transfers.

Initial Transfer & Pre-Boarding Status

The mission commenced with a three-hour ground ambulance transfer from the patient’s residence in London to the airport. Despite the length of the journey, the patient remained conscious and clinically stable, with a GCS of 15/15. However, due to immobility and associated risks—including orthostatic hypotension—the case required careful coordination and close monitoring throughout.

Operational Disruption at the Airport

Upon arrival at the airport, the airline station manager introduced an additional and unexpected operational requirement that had not been previously communicated during the clearance process.

The station manager insisted that the patient would need to be transported airside to the foot of the aircraft to enable a hoist-loading arrangement prior to boarding. Due to the limited time available to implement this requirement, the patient was ultimately denied boarding, and the flight could not proceed as planned.

Immediate Risk Mitigation & Overnight Coordination

In response, FDN immediately activated safety-first contingency measures to protect the patient from deterioration and avoid unnecessary exposure to further risk.

Key interventions included:

• Immediate admission to a nearby hospital for stabilization, monitoring, and continued care, to avoid the risks of another prolonged road transfer back to the patient’s residence.
• Rapid mobilization of a revised operational plan, including securing a suitable replacement ambulance for onward movement.
• Finalization of hoist-loading arrangements overnight, ensuring the required airside boarding process could be executed safely and without further disruption.

Outcome

By the following day, after appropriate medical management and reassessment, the patient was deemed fit to travel. With all logistics finalized and stakeholders aligned, the mission proceeded successfully within less than a 24hours period. 

We safely completed the repatriation under continuous medical escort, ensuring the patient arrived in Abuja for onward hospital care and continuity of treatment.

For more information about our medical evacuation solutions, contact us at emergency@flyingdoctorsnigeria.com