ROSNO fulfils obligations to Thailand accident victims
ROSNO has completely fulfilled its obligations for medical and medical transportation aid and repatriation of customers from Kemerovo, Russia, and Karaganda, Kazakhstan, injured in two tragic road accidents in Thailand.
Two serious accidents involving Russian tourists occurred on the road from Bangkok to the Airport in mid-January this year. The first one occurred on January 11. According to the police report, because of a malfunction of a wheel the driver of a Toyota minibus lost control of the vehicle which ran into a crash barrier on the left of the road. A criminal case was opened. Five of the seven injured tourists from Kemerovo had standard travel insurance policies from ROSNO.
Called by accident witnesses, medical services used ambulances to deliver the ROSNO clients to the nearest medical institutions where they received prompt first aid.
Once the tour operator had notified ROSNO of the incident, trusted doctors representing ROSNO in Thailand were sent to the above clinics to receive detailed medical information and warrant payment for the medical services provided.
Unfortunately, it was impossible to save two victims for objective reasons. A woman died at the scene of the accident. A man who sustained very serious injuries died at the hospital despite all efforts by the doctors. When the bodies were identified, ROSNO organized repatriation of the dead people to Kemerovo.
Right after the accident, every effort was made to deliver the victims to the nearest medical institutions. In Thailand, however, like in many other Asian countries, state-run clinics not always have all necessary diagnostic facilities and medicines, quality equipment and skilled personnel.
ROSNO services in Thailand monitored the state of health of the victims on a daily basis. They controlled the quality of medical aid and covered all costs on medicines and treatment procedures. As soon as it was possible from the medical point of view, the insured were transferred to one of the two biggest hospitals in Pattaya which met international standards and was sufficiently well equipped to stabilize their condition.
Unfortunately, all the victims sustained very serious injuries requiring long-term and expensive treatment: multiple fractures, including backbone, bruises, internal injuries, and a brain concussion. The lungs of one of the insured were injured as a result of multiple rib fractures. The patient could not breathe and underwent artificial pulmonary ventilation. It was only on January 27 that the doctors in charge gave permission for repatriation of the victims whose state had somewhat improved. The ROSNO customers were sent to Kemerovo by air attended by doctors.
ROSNO's spending on medical and medical transportation aid to the January 11 accident victims amounted to $90,000. The company fulfilled all of its obligations. The cost of the travel insurance policy which the Kemerovo tourists had was less than $10 and the insurer's limit of liability was $25,000 per person. This amount was not enough for some of the travelers though. To cover all costs of their treatment and transportation to Russia, the Kemerovo regional government undertook a part of the additional spending (over $33,000).
Two more ROSNO customers were injured on the same road on January 20 – a married couple from Kazakhstan. On the way from the airport to the hotel, their minibus ran into a truck at full speed, the driver killed right off. ROSNO's service arranged for the tourists who had sustained multiple and very serious injuries to be admitted to the biggest hospital in Pattaya where they underwent an emergency operation. Unfortunately, however, the husband died in three days because of his injuries, despite all efforts by doctors and a neurosurgical operation. The injured wife was delivered to her home in Karaganda attended by doctors when permission was given by the hospital doctors. The man's body was repatriated after going through the formalities.
ROSNO's spending on medical and medical transportation aid amounted to some $39,000.
ROSNO has insured travelers since 1992. The company has developed a broad range of products for citizens traveling in Russia and abroad. In 2005 ROSNO provided travel insurance services for 1.19 mln clients and paid $2.8 mln to fulfill its obligations.
OJSC ROSNO was established in 1991. JSFC Sistema owns 49.2% of the company's shares, and Allianz AG owns 47.4%. Company is a universal operator licensed for 95 classes of insurance. ROSNO has subsidiaries in Russia (ROSNO-Center Reinsurance Company, IC ROSNO-MS, IC Alliance ROSNO Life, and Alliance ROSNO Asset Management,) and Ukraine (IC ROSNO Ukraine). Authorized capital amounts to Rub 1 184 bln. Regional ROSNO network includes 100 branches in all Russian regions (combined by territory to 10 directorates) and 203 agencies. Over 7 mln people and more than 50,000 enterprises have ROSNO policies and contracts.
