Dubai: The family of an Indian tourist who passed away while on a visit to Dubai is seeking help to pay the bills of a city hospital where he was admitted. The deceased man did not have a travel insurance on his visit visa.
The family has incurred a total expenditure of Dh197,000 within 22 days, and were able to pay Dh36,000 so far. With a little discount from the hospital, they still have to pay up Dh126,000 and the family members, who earn a modest income, are appealing to people to help them out in their time of crisis.
Remona Daniel, niece of the deceased man, recalls the 22 days of pure agony the family underwent. “My uncle Louis Manuel, 69, was in good health when he came here on April 14 with his family from Mumbai. He was accompanied by his wife (my aunt), his elder son, daughter-in law and two grandchildren. It was such a happy occasion as the family of six was availing a free airline ticket coupon given to them as the last time they had come here — for my marriage — the airline was overbooked and had issued free tickets to them. Almost eight months after, they decided to use these tickets and visit us.
“There was no inkling of the tragedy that was about to unfold,” she said.
Manuel had a history of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) which was well under control with medications. However, within four days of his arrival, he developed a slight temperature which was brought down with paracetamol medication and he rested at home while the rest of the family went on a desert safari. However, by the end of the week, he was breathless and had to be taken to the emergency section by April 22. The hospital gave him oxygen and some injections to stabilise his condition and advised the family to get him admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
“My uncle was fully conscious, he walked to the hospital, changed his clothes for admission by himself and did not seem to be so ill. However, within two days, the doctors attending on him pronounced him to be suffering from acute pneumonia with the right lung being completely inactive and he was put on the ventilator. We watched helplessly as each passing day his condition deteriorated,” recounted Daniel.
In the meanwhile, the hospital bills kept mounting. “We tried to get him discharged from there, but no other hospital would admit him. We also tried to speak to an airlines to fly him back to Mumbai, but because of some of the medicines prescribed to him, the airlines declined to give approval,” said Daniel
The patient’s health kept worsening. He could not be weaned off the ventilator and on May 12, he breathed his last after developing renal failure, haemorrhage and other complications.
The hospital accepted an advance security cheque from the family for the full amount of Dh197,000 to release the body that had to be repatriated to India. The family is still in mourning and the prospect of having somehow to obtain the money to pay off the rest of the bill is causing them high stress as they do not have the resources to settle the big number.
Manuel’s son, Celestine Rufus, wrote to Gulf News. “My brother, cousins and I contributed towards paying off Dh36,000 from the hospital bill. We live in Sharjah with our families and have a modest income,” he said. “We are seeking help from the people of this country to help us clear the hospital bills,” he said.
