Cash-strapped mother tells Expatmedia.net about double trouble

  DUBAI – A baby boy weighing 1kg is fighting to survive at the neonatal intensive care unit of a hospital in Dubai, while his distraught mother is grappling with yet another problem: A looming Dh250,000 hospital bill. Dubai resident Roxanne Enriquez Adviento has suffered two miscarriages in the past; so when her doctor told her that her latest pregnancy appeared normal, she was overjoyed. As fate would have it, however, she prematurely gave birth to her first child, Aaron Karl, last month. It was a bittersweet moment for the new mother: her baby needed intensive care in order to live, and although he has spent more than 30 days in the hospital, doctors advised 30 more days of confinement until his condition stabilised.
The worst news came on March 26, when Adviento was given a hospital bill of Dh250,000 and told that the insurance company would only cover part of the cost. “We felt like the world caved in when the insurance company told us they would only cover Dh150,000 of the cost because my case was considered a pre-existing condition,” Dubai resident Roxanne Enriquez Adviento told Expatmedia.net. The insurance company could not be immediately reached for comment. She still has a Dh100,000 debt to settle, an amount that is expected to increase daily while her son remains in intensive care. Adviento expects the bill to go up to Dh250,000 after 30 days. “My husband and I don’t know where we will get the rest of the money to pay the hospital,” Adviento said, adding that she has also filed an appeal with the Dubai Health Authority to look into her case. Adviento works for an insurance brokerage as a personal assistant while her husband is a shoe salesman. The cash-strapped couple admit that their combined monthly earnings barely cover the daily hospital bill of around Dh5,000. “For now, we honestly don’t know what to do except hope that we meet some good Samaritans so we can finally bring our baby home,” she said. Roxanne Enriquez Adviento
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