At Brisbane GP & Health Hub, we provide specialised Travel and Dive Medicine consultations for patients preparing for overseas trips or scuba diving activities.
Our services are delivered by Dr Keyoren Fernandes, who currently performs all travel and dive medical assessments at our clinic.

Travel Medicine & Dive Medicine

**BOTH COMING SOON ASCOT LOCATION DECEMBER 2025**

Travel Medicine

Travel medicine focuses on keeping people healthy before, during, and after overseas travel. It involves assessing health risks associated with specific destinations and providing tailored medical advice, vaccinations, and prescriptions to prevent illness abroad.

What It Involves

A travel medicine consultation typically includes:

  • Destination-specific advice: Health risks vary depending on the region e.g., malaria in tropical areas, altitude sickness in mountainous regions, or foodborne illnesses in developing countries.

  • Vaccinations: Common travel vaccines include Hepatitis A & B, Typhoid, Yellow Fever, Tetanus/Diphtheria/Pertussis, Rabies, Japanese Encephalitis, and Influenza.

  • Preventive medication: Prescriptions for malaria prophylaxis or altitude sickness prevention.

  • Health and safety planning: Guidance on food and water hygiene, insect bite prevention, managing jet lag, and safe sex abroad.

  • Post-travel follow-up: If travellers develop symptoms like fever or diarrhoea after returning, travel medicine doctors can investigate for tropical diseases or infections.

Why It’s Important

Proper travel preparation can prevent serious illness, hospitalisation, or long-term complications. Some countries also require proof of vaccination (e.g., Yellow Fever certificate) for entry.

Who Should Book

  • Holidaymakers or business travellers heading overseas

  • Backpackers and adventure travellers

  • Humanitarian workers or volunteers

  • Students going on exchange

  • Anyone with chronic health conditions needing travel clearance

Dive Medicine

Dive medicine (also known as hyperbaric or undersea medicine) focuses on the medical evaluation, prevention, and management of conditions related to scuba diving and underwater activities.

What It Involves

A dive medical assessment ensures a person is medically fit to dive safely and meet regulatory requirements (e.g., for recreational, professional, or defence diving).
It includes:

  • Comprehensive medical history: Screening for conditions that could pose risks underwater (e.g., asthma, heart disease, ear/sinus problems, diabetes).

  • Physical examination: Focus on lungs, heart, ears, sinuses, and overall fitness.

  • Spirometry or lung function testing: Ensures lungs can handle pressure changes.

  • ENT (ear, nose, throat) assessment: Checks for equalisation issues.

  • Referral for specialist clearance if required (e.g., cardiology or respiratory review).

Dive-Related Conditions Managed

  • Decompression sickness

  • Barotrauma (ear or sinus injury from pressure)

  • Nitrogen narcosis

  • Oxygen toxicity

  • Carbon monoxide or dioxide poisoning

  • Hypothermia and drowning prevention education

Why It’s Important

Pressure changes underwater can significantly affect the body — having a qualified doctor assess dive fitness reduces the risk of serious injury or death.

Some training agencies or workplaces legally require a current AS/NZS 2299 or SPUMS-compliant dive medical.

*4005.1 for recreational divers, and AS/NZS 2299.1 for occupational divers*

Who Should Book

  • New divers completing certification (e.g., Open Water)

  • Commercial and occupational divers

  • Freedivers and snorkellers

  • Divers with new or existing medical conditions

  • Anyone needing clearance after a diving-related incident

Our Services

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