BIMC Goes Mobile on Two Wheels: Bali

The BIMC or Bali International Medical Centre has been an institution in Bali for as long as I can remember and for years it has assisted tourists with all manner of injuries that have occurred whilst on their holidays.

You know the situations I mean. Having skin ripped off your elbow when you fell off a bike or broken a bone or two. Getting stung by that delightful and colourful insect that your mother told you not to touch, and, even the dreaded Bali Belly - the curse of all travellers.

And now the Bali International Medical Centre (BIMC) has just improved its reputation for providing fast and sophisticated emergency medical response services with the introduction of an innovative addition to its fleet of state-of-the-art ambulances.

As you can imagine it is sometimes difficult to manoeuvre down narrow gangs with an ambulance or even in the heavy traffic that accumulates so often on Bali's busy streets. So, they now have motor bikes, fully equipped to service your medical needs whether it be in downtown Kuta when you split your head open from a fall after a bender on the booze or, if you are hobbling along some dirt road in the back of the mountains.

I could have done with these guys a few years back when I was on a road trip with Nick. We were taking a leisurely night stroll along a small back road up at Gunung Batur. Pitch black as the night was, every time a vehicle zoomed by we had to step onto the side of the road. I misjudged the step in the darkness and twisted my foot or so I thought.

With the kind help of Nick,, Candika and Meli, we managed to somehow make it back to the small place we were staying. A bit of ice on my blue and swollen foot, a bandage wrap and all was well. On with the roadtrip. When I returned to my digs in Kuta the pain was increasing by the minute and my foot looked more like a hunk of two by four. A trip to the doctor confirmed I had broken a bone in my foot. Oh the joys of travel!