CRUNCH TIME: Lilianna Kuczynski broke her leg during takeoff with G Force Paragliding in Queenstown last month.

Tourists are not told – or do not understand – ACC cover costs for accidents in New Zealand, according to a Polish man whose wife broke her leg paragliding in Queenstown.

Polish couple Piotr Kuczynski and Lilianna Kulikowski-Kuczynski were visiting Queenstown last month when Mrs Kuczynski, 55, broke her leg on takeoff during a flight with G Force Paragliding.

Mr Kuczynski – in an email to The Southland Times – says the pilot took his wife to Queenstown Medical Centre and paid the cost of the visit.

A doctor diagnosed her and, after a discussion with a surgeon in Southland Hospital, the plan was to transfer her to Invercargill or she could have an operation when she returned to Poland. The long-term diagnosis was an operation followed by rehabilitation.

She opted to return to Poland, where an operation was performed at a cost of $7500, which the couple paid in full because insurance did not cover paragliding, Mr Kuczynski said.

G Force Paragliding were asked to cover the cost of the operation but the company's boss declined.

In a letter to the couple, G Force Paragliding board of directors Gavin Taylor said tourists were covered for accidental injury by ACC and if she had chosen to stay and have surgery in Southland Hospital the cost of that surgery and injury-related costs would have been covered.

He said there was no negligence by the pilot and paragliding was an adventure activity with an element of risk.

Mr Taylor was unavailable yesterday.

Mr Kuzcynski said he was bitterly disappointed after returning to Poland because there was no response from ACC, the Queenstown Lakes District Council, Destination Queenstown, the Disputes Tribunal, police, the Department of Labour and the Civil Aviation Authority. It appears the Poles were not told ACC covered accident-related costs, including hospital transfer, surgery costs and rehabilitation.

"If you try to look for justice you are informed that `you cannot sue a company/person in relation to personal injury'. It is unbelievable.

"Maybe it is the case with foreign tourists only," he said.

According to Immigration, anyone travelling to New Zealand is advised to have medical insurance. At the working visa level all applicants have a mandatory requirement to hold medical and comprehensive hospital insurance.

What many tourists and their insurers alike are unaware of is that insurance is covered in the advent of illness but injuries from accidents are covered by ACC.

ACC spokesman Laurie Edward said the distinction was simple.

"For any tourist working or not, if they have an accident, it is covered by ACC."

This includes any medical transfer by ambulance or helicopter, through to surgery, hospital stay and rehabilitation.

While the support of ACC was not endless, it meant all visitors to New Zealand were treated the same as citizens, he said.

Part of the rationale behind the breadth of the ACC scheme was it removed the ability to sue, Mr Edward said.

Queenstown Medical Centre spokesman Dr Richard Macharg said he could not comment on tourists' prior knowledge of the New Zealand system.

Asked whether patients were told about ACC, he said any medical assessment relating to personal injury by accident was dealt with by the centre under ACC.

Any accident had an ACC claim established, he said. "Patients are advised of their entitlements under the ACC system.

"Clearly while QMC staff are aware of the ACC system they are not and cannot be expected to be aware of the medical systems in other countries," he said.

Staff were also not expected to be aware of tourists' insurance arrangements, he said.