When Celebrity Edge entered service last year, this sleekly-cool ship was recognised as one of the World’s Greatest Places in 2019 by TIME Magazine. Things have come a long way since the days when Dirk Bogarde played the role of Dr Simon Sparrow, the naive medic aboard the SS Lotus, in the 1955 British comedy Doctor at Sea. It’s worth bearing in mind that these come with a high price-tag, so medical insurance is essential. The rapid technology-enabled "Trace Together" app lets Royal Caribbean alert guests in the event they’ve been in extended contact with any known positive cases.Īs anyone who has ever sampled life on a cruise can attest, the medical team and facilities found on a ship of any major cruise line are more than capable of dealing with most remedial procedures. Potentially infectious passengers or crew can be cared for in a facility separated from non-Covid-19 healthcare practices. The entire medical team can offer robust treatment with rapid RT-PCR testing on-site, hospital-grade ventilator with CPAP and BiPAP capabilities. Every doctor on board has received acute respiratory training and oversees a dedicated controlled care centre as well as critical care beds. The gamut of enhanced health and safety measures the cruise line adopted includes an infection control officer to monitor and coordinate the implementation of the company’s onboard infection control plan. Sadly the inaugural cruise in December was cut short following one Covid-19 test result that turned out to be a false-positive. Offering a tentative return to cruising for Singapore nationals, these four-day ‘cruises to nowhere’ operated from their home port. The pandemic has put medical facilities aboard cruise ships under the microscope in recent months, nowhere more so than aboard Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas. Patients requiring more in-depth treatment are referred to a shore side medical facility. CLIA also stipulates cruise ships must have an examination room and an intensive care room, plus equipment for monitoring vital signs and administering medications. These mandatory criteria for CLIA’s ocean-going cruise line members specify that cruise ships must have at least one qualified medical professional available 24/7. Since its inception, members of CLIA have collaborated with the American College of Emergency Physicians to develop and implement guidelines on cruise ship medical facilities. It beggars belief that it has taken a Federal Bill to catch up with the policies of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the world’s largest cruise trade body. In a radical move, it also stipulates that the location of the ship’s medical facilities and instructions for a medical emergency form part of the passenger safety drill given on embarkation day. Now a clause within the new Bill mandates that all cruise ships must have a qualified physician and sufficient medical staff on board at all times. This decade-old Act only required a cruise ship to have a registered nurse on board but no doctor. The last cruise-related regulations adopted by lawmakers in the United States came in 2010 with the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act. Earlier this month, Congress placed the Cruise Passenger Protection Act into a sweeping defence Bill that was passed by both the US Senate and House of Representatives. Now the US Government is jumping on the bandwagon. These include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the US Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency. Since the advent of Covid-19, a tsunami of diktats has emanated from US regulatory authorities.
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