Indian family’s dream trip to Kazakhstan turns into nightmare: ‘Told air ambulance will cost 7 million’ | Trending

An Indian-origin family’s dream trip to Kazakhstan turned into a nightmare after the husband slipped and broke his thighbone, leading to a long saga of hospital visits, unreliable medical care, exorbitant costs and unhelpful authorities. X user JD detailed the family’s ordeal in a viral thread on the social media platform, advising other travellers to get travel insurance before flying abroad. An Indian family’s Kazakhstan trip took an unfortunate turn with the husband’s injury (Representational image) JD said that his friend’s cousin had travelled to the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan from Kuwait when the nightmare unfolded. The man was accompanied his wife and their two young children, aged 4 and 6. “My friend’s cousin travelled to Kazakhstan from Kuwait for a new year getaway with wife and two kids, aged 4 & 6,” JD wrote on X. He identified the man only the letter “J”, opting not to reveal his full name. “On Friday morning, ‘J’ slipped on the snow and fell hard on his butt,” he said. “That somehow broke his femur.” No flight to India The Indian-origin man was rushed to a government hospital in Kazakhstan where he was told he would need immediate surgery. However, his wife was unsure about the quality of medical care in the country and reached out to a number of local Malayalis for their opinion. The Malayali Association of Kazakhstan got in touch with the wife and also advised her against getting surgery there. Instead, they said, the family should fly back to Kuwait or Kerala for medical treatment. The wife, “ now dressed,” contacted the Indian Embassy. JD said in his thread that Embassy officials were “apathetic.” They simply gave her the contact number of Air Astana to inquire about flying him out. “That’s it, our officials didn’t offer to contact, or go with her to help,” the X user said. The language barrier further complicated their situation. The Indian family meanwhile faced another hurdle in flying out of Kazakhstan – the husband could not sit up for the duration of the flight and needed to be flown in a supine position. Unfortunately, none of the airlines flying out of the country had a stretcher facility. On the other hand, the cost of flying him out on an air ambulance was exorbitant. “She tried various airlines -QA, EK, AI including Jazeera airlines with whom they flew from Kuwait. Air ambulance to India would cost 6-7 million,” JD wrote on X. Buried in paperworkFinally, it was an Indigo engineer in Kerala who stepped in to help the dressed family. The engineer managed to get special approval to remove eight seats and fit a stretcher on the aircraft. Even so, the Indigo flight would take the family only so far as Delhi, after which they would have to make more arrangements for flying to Kochi, Kerala. Screenshots of JD’s conversation show his friend saying that his cousin was in “severe pain”. “Till last night they buried in paperwork and getting approvals,” JD wrote yesterday, adding that the family was hopeful of flying out soon. In an update shared a few hours ago, he said he may have spoken too soon. The family now faces another hurdle – Indigo wants the medical evacuation form to be signed a Kazakh Doctor. “And the Kazakh Doctor will only sign reports/forms of the hospital he’s working in,” JD explained. He advised other travellers to be prepared for all eventualities while travelling abroad. This includes having the contact information of emergency services and local Indian associations, as well as a good translator app to overcome language barriers.