TIC tackles the perils of Africa

THE cost of insurance claims in
Africa can be signicantly higher
than other continents for several
reasons, says Simmy Micheli,
manager sales and marketing for
Travel Insurance Consultants (TIC).
She says, in the event of death,
the costs of returning the remains
can be high. “Many countries in
Africa are Muslim and there are
often no or limited facilities to
embalm bodies before returning
the mortal remains. This means
insurers incur a signicant extra
cost to y in the service.”
Simmy says evacuating sick and
injured travellers to the nearest,
most suitable medical facility
also increases cost of claims
drastically. “Besides the cost of
air evacuations, there are other
complications for the crew to
manage, such as coping with
night landings on poor runways
and dealing with airport ofcials
who require US dollar bribes
before allowing pilots to leave
the country.”
Travel insurance is essential
when travelling in Africa, as the
prevalence of diseases such as
rabies, cholera, malaria, sleeping
sickness and Congo fever is high.
The risk of contracting malaria is
particularly high. TIC handles at
least two malaria cases a month.
Claims can run into exorbitant
amounts. Simmy cites an example
of a three-year-old child who
sustained a tibia fracture in
Livingstone, Zambia. The child
was evacuated to Johannesburg
at a cost of R195 537. The
cost to repatriate a 24-year-old
man’s remains from Accra, Ghana,
to Johannesburg amounted to
R900 000.
One of the highest claims TIC
has received was for R6m. A client
fell ill in Dakar and was admitted
to ICU. After TIC’s assistance
company assessed his case, he
was own to the London Bridge
Hospital in a Falcon 10 air
ambulance. When he was well
enough, he was own back to SA
with a medical escort.
Business travellers can opt for
the Business Industrial cover or
for the Business Administrative
policy when going on individual
business trips. The Corporate
Travel Insurance is a policy for
organisations undertaking a large
amount of travel qualifying for
an annual declaration option.
Medworld is a medical and
evacuation-only cover for contract
employers residing in African
countries for extended periods.
Business travellers should
also take into consideration that
injuries related to manual labour
(construction, engineering or
mining rms) are usually excluded
on regular policies. However, all
TIC corporate annual declaration
policies automatically include cover
for manual-labour-related injuries.