Medical transport

Costa Rica is small on the map and slow on the road: a transfer from Tamarindo, Nosara or Manuel Antonio to a San José hospital can take four to six hours by ground ambulance. Relevium decides early whether a patient should be moved at all, how — ground or air — and to which hospital, so the decision is clinical rather than logistical.

Ground ambulances are arranged through vetted private providers; air transfers, when clinically justified, through fixed-wing and helicopter operators we work with regularly. In every case the Relevium physician briefs the receiving hospital before the patient arrives.

Airlines and insurers require a physician to confirm that a patient can tolerate a commercial flight — cabin altitude, immobility, oxygen availability, the risk of a mid-air deterioration. Relevium's Emergency Medicine team performs the fit-to-fly assessment and issues the certificate in English, following IATA medical guidance, and completes the airline's MEDIF forms when the carrier requires them.

The outcome is one of three: cleared to fly, cleared with special assistance (wheelchair, extra seating for a fractured leg, oxygen, a medical escort), or not yet fit — with a date to reassess.

When a patient needs a nurse or physician on board, Relevium coordinates the medical escort, the equipment and the hand-over to the receiving team at destination. For patients who cannot fly commercially, we coordinate air-ambulance repatriation through our provider alliances, with the medical file and the insurer's authorization prepared in advance.

Relevium remains the single medical point of contact: the insurer manages one case, not several vendors.

A written transport recommendation, the fit-to-fly certificate, the escort requirement (if any) and the cost estimate — before anything is booked. After the transfer, a hand-over note for the receiving hospital or the doctors back home.