Overview
One of our long-standing clients, a large Japanese construction firm, holds their duty of care high on their agenda. They sought our medical support across three of their different project sites in Africa. Over the past few years, we have been accompanying them in Madagascar, Mozambique and Djibouti. To ensure the health and safety of their people, our client needed an efficient and reliable health partner with robust and consistent regional expertise.
Problem
Before starting the respective projects and deploying their workforce, the construction company needed to evaluate the health risks and medical landscape around the sites in each country. This would then inform the design of their medical set-up and medical emergency response for the respective sites to be able to ensure the health and wellbeing of their people on site.
When COVID-19 happened in 2020, the projects were ongoing in Madagascar and Mozambique. Our client needed to keep their workforce safe while also maintaining operations continuity.
Solution
To provide a good understanding of the risk exposure that our client’s workforce and operations could face in Madagascar, Mozambique and Djibouti, our medical experts conducted site health reviews. This allowed our clients to have a clear understanding of health risks, and our experts consequently designed a customised medical resource model and medical emergency management solution for each of these sites.
In Madagascar, to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and the expansion of the project, we developed an integrated pandemic response plan with enhanced staff model, health education sessions, screenings and clinical management protocols. This was backed by the support of the 24/7 International SOS Assistance Centres. We also provided the client with a Japanese speaking nurse and an ICU nurse. Both helped prevent and manage COVID-19 cases on-site and helped coordinate COVID-related evacuations at the height of the pandemic. Our site medical team also coordinated with local healthcare authorities for the vaccination of our client’s employees.
In Mozambique, we provided medical staffing and a SiteReady solution (includes a medical transportation plan) for the management of medical emergencies on-site. During the pandemic, we also deployed medical staff to operate a dedicated COVID-19 facility on-site. When expat workers had to return to the project site post-pandemic, we closely accompanied our client with their return-to-work strategies.
Impact
The successful collaboration in Madagascar and Mozambique, including the handling of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic on these sites, has consolidated the medical partnership with our client. When the construction company had to start a new project in Djibouti, they approached us to be their trusted health partner.
As part of our resource model that is relevant to Djibouti’s health risks and its local context, we deployed an emergency doctor to provide both primary and emergency care to the site’s workers. We also ensured the smooth arrangement of medical supplies and equipment on the project site and provided them with a SiteReady solution. When the project was relocated from the capital city to Tadjoura, a more remote town, our on-site teams ensured a seamless transition of medical services solutions without compromising on the quality of delivery.
Through this strategic collaboration with our client across three countries, we helped them ensure the health and safety of their employees in challenging locations and conditions. Successful return-to-work strategies post-COVID also meant that they were able to successfully resume and/or continue their operations. Our client has a very high duty of care and through our consistent and customised medical solutions, they were able to meet their obligations and protect their employees’ health and wellbeing.