Dubai: Little Nylah Armilla, born prematurely in the seventh month on August 12, is a resilient baby who has managed to survive her ordeal against all odds.
For more than a month, her home had been an incubator at Al Baraha Hospital, Dubai, where her mother, Melanie, 37, kept a vigil day and night.
She was discharged and is doing well at home.
However, the Armillas have yet to pay the total bill which is Dh74,000.
“We paid Dh5,000 and gave an undertaking to pay the rest so the hospital allowed us to leave,” she said.
The family was required to pay Dh10,000 in late September and promised to pay half the total amount within two months.
“After that the hospital expects us to pay Dh3,000 per month. Besides that she still has to undergo expensive tests such as brain scan, echo cardiogram and ultrasound this month for which we will require additional money. Our total bill is coming up to Dh100,000 while we have only Dh10,000 that we had saved for the delivery,” says a worried Melanie who has no idea how she is going to meet this challenge. The Armillas cannot afford to pay such a huge amount on their salaries. Melanie works as a telephone operator in a private company while her husband, Nymvel, works at the airport.
The third child of the Armillas, Nylah, who weighed less than 1.36 kilograms at birth, has gained weight and is now close to 1.8kg.
Of her two older children, the elder one, Lehan, lives in the Philippines with his grandmother while the younger son, Maverick, who is one and a half years old, is being cared for by friends and neighbours in their Dubai home as Melanie is at the hospital with her baby while dad Nymvel is at work.
The Armillas are like any other white-collar expatriates in the country who have managed to secure their life but have no extra funds or savings to cope with such a huge financial expense.
“I had no clue that we would face this problem,” says the distraught mother. “We were prepared for a normal delivery as we had not anticipated this complication. There is no way we can pay this huge amount,” says Melanie, appealing for help from generous residents.
Premature births and incubators cost dearly and immigrant parents in Dubai are ill prepared financially for this kind of emergency.
Many charities and generous residents are inundated with appeals for help time and again. Dwelling upon the issue, a health-care specialist from Dubai Health Authority who declined to be named said this problem persisted because many parents had no or inadequate insurance cover.
“Once the insurance cover is compulsory, parents will be able to tide over this kind of financial emergency,” she added.
