Cross-Border Medical Coverage: Middle East
With the disruption caused by the outbreak of war in the Middle East, regional medical authorities say that they have been receiving enquiries from residents of places such as Dubai and Doha relating to their medical insurance, and whether they will still be covered if they have to relocate rapidly.
Amber Musson-Thorp, Head of Corporate Consulting EMEA at Lifecare International, told the press that:
“The GCC is such a highly mobile region, with people constantly moving between Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, so when travel disruptions occur, it can quickly impact thousands of residents who are not in their country of residence at the time.”
Health insurance is not usually an expat’s first concern when conflict breaks out: risk assessment, immediate safety concerns, and travel options are often the first things on people’s minds, but healthcare issues may arise later. However, there have been reports in the UK press about tourists from the UK stranded in the region without their medication, and this is a definite concern for many people.
“We are advising individuals and companies to focus first on ensuring access to care, particularly for people with chronic conditions, ongoing treatments, or families with young children.”
If you have questions, and are able to do so, check with your insurance provider if you are on the move or think that you might need to leave urgently.
Maintaining Mental Health During Conflict
The stress and disruption caused by your host nation suddenly being plunged into conflict is hard to overestimate. Although many expats in the Gulf have been downplaying their fears, the numbers leaving or trying to leave places such as Dubai tell their own story.
Mental health experts describe emotions in times of war as ranging from periods of relief and calm to unbearable fear, sleeplessness, inability to concentrate, irritability, feelings of frustration, loneliness, sadness, worry, guilt, and bouts of emotional exhaustion. What is known as ‘long-distance suffering’ is an issue, applying both to expats and to their families back home.
If you find yourself in this situation, how can you deal with these challenging emotional states? Finding a balance between obsessively watching the news, doomscrolling and becoming overwhelmed, and staying informed while also focusing on things unrelated to the crisis, is difficult but necessary. Take breaks from social media and the news, and talk to people with whom you have a good relationship and who are in the same situation, not necessarily about current events.
Not every expat who experiences conflict goes on to have mental health issues. Psychologists say that, for some people, relief at being in a safer place and having escaped conflict can generate a positive mindset, but unfortunately, overall, people coming out of a difficult situation are more likely to experience PTSD and anxiety. Psychologist and epidemiologist Dr Manuel Carballo, Executive Director of the International Center of Migration, Health and Development in Geneva, who spent his early childhood in a refugee camp, says that:
“A lack of control takes away our power and undermines the extent to which we feel equipped to care for ourselves in the future…We’re deeply influenced by our feelings of control and when we lose that control, we become vulnerable to a wide spectrum of dangers and threats to our mental and physical health.”
Trying to maintain structure and routine is important if you remain in situ, but if you are on the move, this can be doubly stressful, with uncertainty over cancelled flights and long delays. Preparing for departure is important: make sure you know where your passport is, and have a bag packed, just in case. Once at the airport, it’s natural to keep checking the flight boards, but try to take some time away from this as well: delegate to colleagues or other family members, and establish a rota. Again, trying to retain some measure of control over the situation can help.
What Can You Do To Support Your Employees?
Experts suggest that management teams acknowledge the realities of the conflict and make sure that employees have access to help. This includes identifying those employees who may be particularly badly affected. Those with families who may be affected might need particular support, but personnel who may have been through a previous conflict, or who are veterans, may also find that their equilibrium is suffering, along with those whose home nation’s conflict may have been treated differently by the international community.
Remind your workplace about inclusivity and anti-discriminatory language. This can become particularly tense if you have employees from countries on both sides of a conflict, in which exchanges might become heated. Remember that not every person on the aggressive side of the conflict will agree with it, and those people, too, may be afraid for people back home.
Use Employee Resource Groups and affinity groups to support employees and mediate if necessary. Help your workforce by educating them about signs of distress expressed by others. Flexibility over workloads and deadlines may need to be increased, especially if employees are trying to support family and friends back home. In instances where time zones between workplace and home differ significantly, you may need to work around different start and end times to the working day, for example. This current conflict has broken out during Ramadan, which has its own challenges.
Consulting firm Gartner points out that it is crucial to support managers, who may find themselves having to act as mental health counsellors without necessarily having the qualifications to do so. Human resources site HRZone says that communication is key: again, make sure that you are working to create a culture of support and that your personnel have access to EAPs (Employee Assistance Programmes), especially those which use trained counsellors.