‘I couldn’t get insurance for more than six months’
Lisa Gatt ends Cambodian nightmare in tearful reunion with family
Franica Pulis
Lisa Gatt reveals the reason for her lack of insurance cover on her ill-fated trip to Cambodia: no insurance company would issue a policy for more than six months, and her intention was to spend some two years in the Asian country.
A tearful Lisa, 25, ended her Cambodian misadventure yesterday when she arrived at Malta International Airport in a wheelchair after suffering a broken femur in a motorbike accident, and enduring painful surgery in a Cambodian clinic.
Accompanied by Red Cross paramedics, she was greeted by family and friends and a pack of journalists and photographers.
At first seeing her sister Lia, who started a Facebook campaign to collect €8,000 to get her back, the two sisters’ cried loudly with relief as they hugged each other.
Lia then hugged her father, her niece and her months-old nephew.
Her ordeal started on 7 April when she had a motor traffic accident in Sihanoukville, and had to have her broken femur bone operated. She had been travelling and working around the country since November, leaving without any insurance. After her accident, she endured painful surgery, prompting a campaign by her sister to bring her back.
Finally making it to the arrivals lounge yesterday, paramedics had to move Lisa from her wheelchair onto a stretcher before taking the questions of the press, fearing her injury could worsen.
Unsurprisingly, she was expected to answer the question on everybody’s lips since her sister launched the fund-raiser to get her back: why hadn’t she been insured?
“You can’t get insurance when you don’t know when you’re coming back, if your holiday is indefinite. I was planning to stay for about two years, just travelling. No one will insure you for more than six months here.”
She went on to explain the healthcare situation in Cambodia: “They made the best of what they had. They don’t have a lot over there, but obviously it’s not up to European standards, so it’s a little bit scary.”
“All I want is to just want to go home,” she said with a whimper.
While the fund-raising campaign managed to collect €8,000 for the Red Cross to bring Lisa back, the money was not enough cover transportation and accommodation.
As she showed her bandaged hip, Lisa said she might have to have it operated again as the pin in her leg was too long. However, she said she was already much better than before.
When asked how the accident had happened, she smiled: “Maltese roads are bad. But there, they are worse.”
She also said the accident happened because the driver was actually trying to avoid a hole.
“I feel overwhelmed,” Lisa said, at seeing the flurry of activity that had greeted her, right before she was whisked off in an ambulance to Mater Dei hospital.
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