Filipina driver in Dubai seeks help to settle hospital bill
Gloria Castillo suffers aneurysm, and now owes Dh23,000 in medical costs
Sharjah: A Filipina expat, who has lived in the UAE for three decades, is in need of financial help to settle a pending hospital bill of Dh23,000.
The 59-year-old Filipina, Gloria Mendoza Castillo, works as a driver for a driving institute in Dubai, and was hospitalised on May 31 after fainting at her residence in Sharjah. Medical reports shared by Castillo revealed that she was admitted into a Sharjah hospital on emergency. Castillo is said to have experienced giddiness and severe headache before doctors at the hospital diagnosed her condition to be an aneurysm.
“My aunt underwent a left pterional craniotomy surgery due to cerebral aneurysm, a condition also known as brain aneurysm, resulting in an abnormal widening or ballooning, on June 2, 2020. Her hospital bill is currently around Dh23,000 and that is the number after an initial deposit was paid by myself to discharge her from the hospital,” said Vincent Barnes who works as a marine pollution controller in Ajman earning a salary of Dh4,300 a month.
He said he cannot afford to pay her bill as his salary is low and he needs to help his family as well.
Speaking to Gulf News, Castillo said she felt lucky to be alive. “I don’t know what happened to me. I just lost consciousness and fainted. When I opened my eyes I was in a hospital.
“This is really scary for me as I have coughed up a huge hospital bill.”
Castilla said she came to work in the UAE way back in 1986 as a driver for a family.
“Am currently working as a driver for an institute. As per my contract my salary is Dh1,500. In the last 30 years whatever savings I had, I spent it to help my friends and relatives who were in need of financial help. This has been my mission in life to be of help to others. That is all I have known.”
And now unfortunately the tables have turned and Castilla is the one needing help.
“The UAE is like home to me. I have loved working here. This country has given me so much. The past few months has been tough for me without a job. I don’t have enough savings to fall back on.”