Assistance: on-site meeting with Total

Jean-Pierre Gardair - As we are involved in oil and gas production in many countries, we employ expatriate and local staff in virtually every corner of the world. In the case of expatriates, employees and their families are covered by our assistance contracts. When an emergency arises, we work mainly with Europ Assistance, with whom we have signed a contract for access to their technical support centre. In addition to our annual subscription, we pay them for the services provided, mainly medical repatriation. It's important to be able to respond to emergency situations and transport patients to suitable hospitals. We work in harmony with this assistance provider and the patient's doctor. This enables us to react within the hour and, if necessary, find a solution for repatriation by airliner or ambulance. Around sixty operations of this type are decided each year. Of these, less than ten are carried out using medical aircraft.

 

J.-P. G. - First of all, I would like to point out that Total has in-house clinics dedicated to the Group's employees and their families in the following five countries: Angola, Congo, Indonesia, Nigeria and Gabon: Angola, Congo, Indonesia, Nigeria and Gabon. In Gabon, a surgeon is in charge of our clinic. When an expatriate, a family member or a local employee has a health problem, they go to one of these clinics for treatment. In an emergency, the medical situation will be stabilised and, if necessary, a decision may be taken to evacuate the patient. Europ Assistance will then be called in to direct the patient to a quality hospital in the country where they are or in another country in this region of the world. For emergencies occurring in an area close to South Africa, for example, we rely on the hospital facilities in Johannesburg. For problems in East Africa, we prefer the French military hospital in Djibouti. In Asia, excellent medical facilities are available in several countries in the region: Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore.