Courier service for transport of medication from SJPDP

[MilandMark]

Hello. My husband Mark and myself , Camilla are coming from Australia to walk the Frances Way from SJPDP to Santiago de Compostella. We are planning to start around the 23rd March 2024. Unfortunately we are starting our walk a little bit too early but our flights are locked in. We need help / advice please. My husband has an asthma condition that requires a monthly injection. The pen must be refrigerated / kept at 4 degrees. We want to know if there is a courier service that has refrigeration that could take the pen from SJPDP to a local hospital / pharmacy approximately 4 weeks along the route. Any suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Robo]

That might be complictaed to organise.

But...............the health services in Spain are outstanding.
I hesitate to say..........but better than Australia.

Assuming the medication is available in Spain, perhaps your Doctor could request it to be made available at a suitable location? Or at least find out if a prescription could be arranged?

Might be worth asking.

I'm sure others will have other / better ideas.

 

[Tincatinker]

@Robo is correct, if understating the difficulty. Controlled temperature transport and storage is not available with any of the extant transport providers. There may be specialist transporters but beyond Google I wouldn’t have a clue where or how to track one down.

The suggestion to try and obtain the drug in Spain may seem the more daunting challenge but in reality won’t be. Provided the drug is licensed in the EU it will be available with an appropriate prescription. Your medical advisor and/or your travel health insurer will be best placed to assist.

 

[Robo]

@Robo is correct, if understating the difficulty. Controlled temperature transport and storage is not available with any of the extant transport providers. There may be specialist transporters but beyond Google I wouldn’t have a clue where or how to track one down.

The suggestion to try and obtain the drug in Spain may seem the more daunting challenge but in reality won’t be. Provided the drug is licensed in the EU it will be available with an appropriate prescription. Your medical advisor and/or your travel health insurer will be best placed to assist.

Maybe you can carry a letter from your Doctor here, with the background to the condition and the treatment required. This could be used to consult a doctor in Spain who could issue the prescription.

Certainly worth asking your doctor.

They must come across this a lot.

Once you have seen your own Doctor, I would even get the address of a couple of doctors in Spain, and email them the letter, asking if they would be able to see you and provide a prescription.

That way you'll not have to worry if it will work or not.

By the way. I work in Logistics.
Getting something transported with cold chain compliance at 4C, from somewhere like St Jean, and then finding someone to accept it and store it.............not easy.
More complicated than arranging a local prescription.........

I would ask your doctor for the best process before planning complex and likely costly transportation.

 

[dick bird]

Trying to work this out - you say it is a monthly injection delivered with a pen that must be kept at 4ªC. So first question, are you bringing it from Australia (I assume you are as you mention courier from SJPdP), and if so, how? Second question, how critical is the timing? My suggestion is that you look into obtaining the medication via an arrangement made before you leave, i.e. rather than trying to transport it from Australia, getting the prescription filled somewhere in Spain, and this would probably be through a private clinic, which is essentially what Robo and Tincatinker are suggesting - find someone in Spain who can fill the prescription. DFAT may be able to give you advice on how to do this. Here is their website to get you started. https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/

 

[ivar]

I don't know if this is helpful or not, but SEUR (in Spain only) has a "SEUR Frío"

https://www.seur.com/es/empresas/servicios-disponibles/seur-frio/

...service. You might be able to send something from Pamplona (not sure if there are any places before that). If this is of interest, I would contact These guys:

Envíos y embalaje en Pamplona - Mail Boxes Etc 0303

Con nuestro servicio de embalaje y envío express, podrás enviar tus paquetes desde Pamplona a todo el mundo...Contacta Mail Boxes Etc. 0303 ¡Ya mismo!

www.mbe.es

... they ship with many shippers, but one of them is SEUR.

I will soon get a fridge (a normal fridge) here in Casa Ivar if that is good enough:

Send your luggage to Santiago, we will store it for you (2024)

Send your luggage to me in Santiago de Compostela

casaivar.com

 

[Xali1970]

Hello. My husband Mark and myself , Camilla are coming from Australia to walk the Frances Way from SJPDP to Santiago de Compostella. We are planning to start around the 23rd March 2024. Unfortunately we are starting our walk a little bit too early but our flights are locked in. We need help / advice please. My husband has an asthma condition that requires a monthly injection. The pen must be refrigerated / kept at 4 degrees. We want to know if there is a courier service that has refrigeration that could take the pen from SJPDP to a local hospital / pharmacy approximately 4 weeks along the route. Any suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated.

What medication is it? You need to find the name of the medication and then find out what the commercial/trade name is in Spain. (If you're referring to Fasenra, it is dispensed in Spain from what I could find out, but do confirm it with your treating physician)

Once you have confirmed the medication name you'll need a letter from your treating physician briefly summarizing your condition, the prescription and the dosage. From there you'll need a medical practice in Spain (I'd just walk into one) to get your Australian prescription transcribed into a Spanish one , and then you can access the medication in Spanish pharmacies. It may need to be ordered, so be prepared to stick around for a day or 2. I've no idea what the cost implication for this medication is for a non EU resident.

The few times I needed an injection in Spain on a foreign (though EU) prescription, no-one batted an eyelid. The prescription was transcribed, filled and medical services provided

I would not try to ship this anywhere: prescription medications are controlled substances and most courier services have restrictions on handling these whether nationally or cross border even within the EU. It's not impossible but does require paperwork and you're at the mercy of the customs official. (I used to work for an international shipping company; medication shipments - no matter how urgent - got stuck in customs more often than not. It may have changed since but I doubt it: national authorities have kept competence over what substances are controlled or not)

Alternatively, there was a post about keeping meds cool on the camino a few days ago. Maybe this ( https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...gics-amgevita-humira-cold.84758/#post-1216906 ) offers a solution for you.

 

[auburnfive]

Check out a product called Frio wallet, it worked great for my diabetes medication

 

[J Willhaus]

Check out a product called Frio wallet, it worked great for my diabetes medication

I don't think the frio wallet will keep it cold enough. There is an All4Familyproduct line that is basically a mini fridge in a thermos container which may work.

Otherwise, if it is a essential health item, I would see a doctor in Spain. I would not wait until you need it that day, but arrange something so it is ready when you do need it. Our US insurance does not cover us in Spain so it would be out of pocket cost for us to get services and medication unless we bought special coverage.

Since this is routine care for you and not emergent, I am guessing travel coverage won't pay for the cost.

 

[RRat]

Hello. My husband Mark and myself , Camilla are coming from Australia to walk the Frances Way from SJPDP to Santiago de Compostella. We are planning to start around the 23rd March 2024. Unfortunately we are starting our walk a little bit too early but our flights are locked in. We need help / advice please. My husband has an asthma condition that requires a monthly injection. The pen must be refrigerated / kept at 4 degrees. We want to know if there is a courier service that has refrigeration that could take the pen from SJPDP to a local hospital / pharmacy approximately 4 weeks along the route. Any suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated.

How long can you delay an injection? Ask your doctor. Notice it is a monthly dose not a dose specified by days. A monthly dose, may imply that some flexibility is allowed. Example my Camino was 35 days walking and 5 for to and from transportation and sightseeing. Would a one time 40 day injection be satisfactory?

 

[Vacajoe]

How are you keeping it cold on the very long journey from Australia?

 

[BigT]

We have dealt with a similar issue also, and this is our typical approach. Do what works best for you.
1. Obtain letter and prescription from your home treating physician in English and Spanish, or whatever language is spoken, wherever you are traveling.
2 Keep copies of these documents with you in a plastic zip lock bag.
3. If possible, time your dosing so you need a minimum of the monthly/weekly doses for those types of sequenced doses.
4. If possible, plan your schedule so you have a dose before your departure from home and return trip home, and consider an extra dose to have available at a pharmacy, if appropriate.
5. Research physicians and clinics in a few locations on the Camino and in Santiago, so you have a quick and easily accessible resource at hand, if needed. Keep in the zip lock bag.
6. Consider purchasing travel "health insurance" if you are not covered when out of your home country by your health insurance that you use at home.
7. Inquire with your health insurance at home and/or your travel "health insurance", if they can assist you in advance of your trip and on your trip. Keep that information for future use.
8. Email a few physicians from your research list. If you speak Spanish, call one. Up front, offer to pay them for their professional time ( tha offer tells them that you are serious, value their time and expertise, and "greases your sled" with that physician), and ask to be able to call/email in the future. Present your situation, offer to send copies of your home physician's prescription and letter (English and Spanish translation), and ask if they will provide your prescription for use in Spain and through your EU transitting countries, and ask if they will email the prescription and allow you to pick up a paper copy when you pass through, or send the paper copy to a location in Spain that you prearrange where you can pick up the paper copy. Place copy of Spanish physician's prescription (email and paper) in the zip lock bag.
9. Keep the Spanish and your home physicians' contact information in zip lock bag.
10. Keep copies of documents, lists/links/maps of some clinics and pharmacies in easily accessible electronic media on your mobile phone.
11. Research this forum and continue to read the comments on your post.
12. After your Camino, consider posting a follow up note to inform and assist others as to how YOUR plan worked.
11. Enjoy your Camino. Do not fret. The Camino provides.

And this plan has worked for us in the past, reduced our trepidation and cooperation was great, especially when our 22 year old with a chronic condition traveled from the center of the USA to Perth, Western Australia.
We heard just what a medical parent wants to hear.
"Not a problem, we have it covered, here are my mobile and home numbers, call anytime".
And I am sure we have not heard all of the stories of that trip.
Really, what could go wrong with two just out of college young guys from the USA in Australia going to Australian rules football games, fishing, and barbies?
We didn't ask.

Buen Camino.

? Comments, other suggestions?

 

[MilandMark]

Thankyou so much everyone for your responses.
The problem is that the prescription costs several thousand dollars in Australia and other countries and we get it in Australia for $7
Mark will have his injection the day before we leave Australia but we are away for 9 weeks so he definitely needs the injection while we are in Spain.
it is hard to believe I booked the airfares without a single thought to his injection and that we are arriving a few weeks early and jeopardising the Pyrenees crossing on 23 March !!
I will follow up the suggestions from Ivar and Xali Thankyou

 

[Vacajoe]

jeopardising the Pyrenees crossing on 23 March

If you start in SJPdP, you’ll definitely cross the Pyrenees. It will be via the Valcarlos route and not the Napoleon regardless of weather as the latter route will not open until April 1st at the earliest.