The case of Álex García Galas, a Spanish citizen intubated in Thailand after suffering from acute pancreatitis, occupied much of the Spanish social chronicle yesterday, Monday. It was the TardeAR program that was in charge of uncovering this situation through his cousin, who explained that they had exhausted all possible avenues to transport him back to Spain: both travel insurance and an expensive trip by private plane.
“We are in a horror movie,” expressed his wife, Usoa Martínez. According to her explanations, before her trip to Thailand a doctor in Spain dismissed her stomach pains, defining them as “gas.” Everything changed on February 25, when severe stomach pains led him to be hospitalized in Bangkok. The doctors informed him that he suffered from “30% necrotizing pancreatitis of biliary origin.”
A month later, his possible return home via a regular flight was thwarted, due to vomiting that made the pilot retreat. Likewise, he was admitted to a second hospital in the Thai capital, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia and complications continued until he suffered cardiac arrest and was intubated. The doctors referred to a series of “inconsistencies” that Álex’s immediate circle did not understand.
It was then that an attempt was made to take the insurer’s route, which refused due to the limitations that they considered were in the policy. As a last attempt, the family went into debt by hiring a private air ambulance, but discrepancies between those responsible for the flight and the hospital, including the oxygen it should carry, canceled the trip. An event that occurred while the patient was “super upset.”
Likewise, the Bangkok hospital charged the family 140,000 euros just for “stabilizing” Álex, according to statements by his cousin Janire Galas, and they demanded a payment of 26,500 euros hours before moving to the airport. Given the situation, the family spokesperson asked for help from both the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, indicating that repatriations due to an illness that could only be treated in Spain had already occurred previously.
This Tuesday afternoon, Usoa Martínez assured in TardeAR that the Ministry of Defense had been able to speak with them and assured them that they were studying the case to bring him on a military medical plane. Álex’s cousin requested at the time that the proposal be studied urgently, since the affected person was at risk of suffering “severe internal hemorrhage.”
