International Medical Repatriation

Returning patients to their home country, bed to bed, with a confirmed receiving hospital

What medical repatriation actually means

Medical repatriation is the return of a patient to their home country for continued treatment or recovery, with the level of clinical care their condition requires maintained for the whole journey. It is not the same as medical evacuation. An evacuation moves a patient away from where they are because staying is unsafe or the care is inadequate. A repatriation moves a patient home, usually once they are stable enough to travel, and is driven as much by continuity of care, funding and family as by clinical urgency.

Most of our repatriation cases originate with an insurer, an assistance company or a hospital case manager rather than the patient. The common thread is that the patient is medically stable, the local episode of care has ended or cannot continue, and someone has to get them home safely with a hospital bed waiting at the other end.

How a repatriation case runs

1. Clinical review

A flight physician reads the actual chart, not a summary, and determines whether the patient is fit to travel, what level of care the journey requires, and which transport mode fits. This review is free and carries no obligation.

2. Receiving bed confirmation

We obtain written acceptance from a named admitting physician at a named facility before anything is scheduled. A repatriation without a confirmed receiving bed is not a repatriation, it is a transfer of risk.

3. Documentation and consent

Informed consent in a language the patient understands, with interpreter attestation where one is used. Where the patient lacks capacity, consent from a legally authorised representative. Where the patient has no passport, we work with the relevant consulate on emergency travel documents.

4. Permits and routing

Overflight and landing permits for every country on the routing, slots, customs, and clearance to carry controlled drugs and medical oxygen across borders. We file all of it.

5. Bed-to-bed execution

Ground ambulance from the sending ward, the flight itself, ground ambulance at destination, and a physician-to-physician handover at the receiving facility with the clinical record travelling with the patient.

6. Confirmation

A signed handover document confirming the patient was admitted, not merely delivered, plus the complete in-flight medical record.

Choosing the transport mode

Air ambulance. A dedicated ICU-configured jet for stretcher-bound and ICU-level patients: ventilator dependence, vasoactive infusions, intra-aortic balloon pump, ECMO, neonatal isolette.

Commercial stretcher. A stretcher installed in a commercial cabin with a dedicated medical crew and oxygen, where route, carrier and condition all permit.

Medical escort. A flight nurse or physician accompanying a patient who can tolerate a seat. Far less expensive, and clinically sufficient for a large share of repatriations.

We quote the mode the patient needs. Recommending a dedicated aircraft where an escort would have done is how repatriation becomes needlessly expensive.

Where we repatriate from and to

Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and all of South America are routine. We also fly transatlantic repatriations to Europe and long-range international missions on request. Where we do not already have a working relationship with a receiving hospital in the destination city, we identify and vet the facility before quoting.

Credentials you can check

Aircraft are operated by MED JETS S.A. de C.V. under Mexican air operator certificate AOC MTS/2015. Med Jets USA, Inc. holds Florida DOH licence AIR9505, status Clear, verifiable on the State of Florida public register. We publish the licence number so you can check it rather than take our word for it.