The end of the nightmare is closer. The military plane that will repatriate the Biscayan in serious condition in Thailand, who will be admitted to the Cruces hospital upon arrival at Loiu airport, has already landed in Bangkok. The aircraft left Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, on time, at five in the afternoon on Friday. There is less time left for the return of Álex García, the young man from Basauri who is in serious condition in a Bangkok hospital due to acute pancreatitis.
In the operational complex, in the words of the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, five doctors and four military nurses participate, who have already left the plane from the Madrid military base at 5:00 p.m. this afternoon. It is still unknown at what time the aircraft will depart back to Spain from the capital of Thailand nor when it will land at the Biscayan airfield. Everything indicates that it will arrive in Loiu on Sunday.
What is confirmed is that an ambulance from Osakidetza will be waiting for Álex to immediately transport him to Cruces. The Basque Health Service has established the action protocol to guarantee the quality and safety of care for the young man from Biscay but living in Lasarte-Oria.
As reported this Friday by sources from the Basque Department of Health, once the family had been consulted and at the expense of ministerial guidelines, the Health Care Directorate of the Basque Public Health Service has decided that the patient be transferred from Loiu to the Cruces University Hospital. There is no time to lose.
The young man has been admitted in critical condition for almost two months in the Intensive Care Unit of a private hospital in Bangkok (Thailand). What should have been an idyllic trip to Thailand for this couple of 34 and 36 years old turned into the worst experience of their lives on February 25, when Álex began to feel severe chest pains and suffered vomiting that led him to admitted to the ICU of a Chiang Mai hospital.
Therefore, on the return trip to Spain the military plane will land directly at the Bilbao airport and not in Torrejón de Ardoz. Furthermore, from Osakidetza they explain that it has been chosen to be evacuated to Cruces “because it is the closest health center to the Biscayan airfield, and because of the speed and ease of transfer.” As detailed, once the military plane lands, the transfer will be carried out in an Advanced Life Support ambulance (ALS) from the Osakidetza Emergency Service.
The medical vehicle will be located at the foot of the track and will have the specialist team (intensivist doctor) responsible for the entire treatment and monitoring process of the patient to receive information on their condition at that very moment, first-hand. Thus, in the SVA ambulance, you will have the necessary information for a first clinical evaluation, both by the medical team in charge of the air transfer, and through your own on-site examination.
“Large financial outlay”
For her part, the Government delegate in Euskadi, Marisol Garmendia, in statements to Radio Euskadi, indicated yesterday that “the Government is going to fulfill the commitment made to the family. Throughout this Friday afternoon the Ministry of Defense will report on the device it is preparing.
Bringing Álex is the main wish of his family, who are already counting the minutes until their loved one lands in Gipuzkoa, his wife Usoa assured this newspaper this Thursday. Following the acceptance on Wednesday by the Ministry of Defense of repatriating Álex García home in a medicalized military plane, the procedures necessary to carry it out have been accelerated to meet the family's request and the objective is for the transfer to be made “as soon as possible,” acknowledged the Government delegate in Euskadi, Marisol Garmendia, who has also sent a message of “prudence” so that “this nightmare for the family ends well.” When asked when the patient will fly, she limited herself to saying that “what I can say is that this weekend the device will be activated.”
The couple, who have two children, had taken out travel insurance that covered medical expenses up to 100,000 euros and “unlimited repatriation” of one person. But after that coverage ran out a couple of weeks ago, the family faces a hospital cost of 5,000 euros per day which, added to the 221,000 euros allocated to the second of the unsuccessful repatriations, makes a total of more than 260,000 euros.
The family paralyzes crowdfunding with 114,445 euros raised
The campaign to support the García-Martínez family to help bring Álex back home and finance the medical expenses he is incurring once the travel insurance coverage has been exhausted has raised a total of 114,445 euros in just five days . Given this enormous show of solidarity, the family wanted to show their thanks and gratitude, although they have made the decision to stop donations. “It was a delicate decision, but we consider it to be the best,” they said in a note on the Gofundme platform with the title 'Help us bring Álex home and pay his medical expenses', which amount to about 5,000 euros per day. On the other hand, in the Basozelai neighborhood of Basauri, where the affected person has grown up, residents have started a campaign to raise funds by placing a piggy bank in numerous bars and businesses in the Biscayan municipality. The initiative has been very well received and many people have already done their bit to help the family.
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