<p>Dubai: It&#39;s better to be safe than sorry. An Indian expat, whose father was hospitalised for five months while on a visit to the UAE, has shared his experience to highlight the importance of procuring travel insurance.</p> <p>Sarath MS, 31, who works with an electromechanical company in the UAE, said his father Sasi Mulloli, 59, had been hospitalised here since May 18 before being finally repatriated last week. &ldquo;My father arrived on April 6. He had contracted COVID-19 and turned out to be positive. He had come down to look for a job as our family had been facing financial difficulties after he lost his job as a mechanic in another Gulf country two years ago,&rdquo; Sarath told Gulf News.&nbsp;Due to complications, Mulloli&rsquo;s kidney, liver and lungs got affected, he said. A medical report said the patient had to be ventilated. Later, he underwent tracheostomy and haemodialysis.</p> <p>When he became fit to travel, the Indian Consulate in Dubai helped repatriate him on a stretcher, along with a doctor and a nurse as medical escorts.</p> <p>While the cost of the repatriation was borne by the mission, Sarath said he could settle as much as Dh149,000 in hospital bills only through travel insurance.</p> <p>&ldquo;When I booked his ticket from India, I only paid around Dh100 for the insurance. I had never imagined that it would be of such great help. I wanted to share our experience so families here make it a point to tell visiting relatives to travel with insurance,&rdquo; said Sarath, who also thanked the Indian mission for bearing the repatriation expenses and the hospital for waiving the remaining amount in the bill.</p> <h3>Another beneficiary</h3> <p>Another Indian expat, whose mother faced an emergency health crisis while on a tourist visa in the UAE earlier this year, said the initial treatment cost at a private hospital in Dubai was covered by travel insurance.</p> <p>&ldquo;I had taken the insurance for her. It cost just Dh90. But the coverage was for Dh150,000 and we got billed around Dh57,000 by the hospital, which was reimbursed. It was a great relief.&rdquo;</p>