Under the pact, Daman's premium policy holders will have worldwide emergency coverage 24/7, 365 days a year, whenever they are travelling more than 100 miles from their country of residence for more than 90 days.

Daman, the UAE's first specialised national health insurance company, is the first UAE-based health insurance company to partner with Assist America, which has more than 33 million customers worldwide. By January 2007, all expatriates residing and working in Abu Dhabi have to become members of the national health insurance scheme as per a presidential decree.

Effective immediately, all holders of Daman's regional, international and global policies can call a dedicated operation centre staffed with doctors and qualified medical practitioners. This operations centre will personally service members, facilitating medical care at appropriate hospitals, arranging emergency medical evacuations, overseeing care of dependents, transporting family members for compassionate visits, arranging return of mortal remains and many other services as required.

‘We are delighted to sign this agreement with Assist America to bring to the UAE a unique service offering - both in its scope and quality. Assist America is a reputable global provider of emergency health care and their reputation for quality delivery is closely in line with our service delivery mission, ‘said Axel Tettenborn, chief operating officer at Daman.

Commenting on the agreement, Curtis J. Kelly, vice president for Assist America said his company selected Daman as its first UAE health insurance ally following a long period of evaluation and is extremely pleased about this partnership.

‘Not only is Daman the largest health insurance provider in the Middle East, but the corporate philosophy and mission to keep health and safety as the first concern closely mirrors our own. This is a strong partnership based on shared values, global capabilities and great potential for mutual success and benefit for both companies and our members,’ added Kelly.

The company has provided Daman customers with an exclusive operations centre phone number to call in times of need. The company's emergency response team is made up of trained multilingual medical practitioners, including doctors and nurses who can advise and assist quickly and professionally in medical emergency cases.