Dubai: After spending more than six years shuttling between the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and wards of Rashid Hospital’s stroke unit, Filipino Wilamore Titico, 59, is waiting to return to his family in the Philippines.

The hospital is ready to send him back and has made arrangements to have a nurse accompany the semi-comatose stroke patient. But there is one problem: Wilamore’s family has refused to take responsibility for him.

Rashid Hospital gets 14 such cases every month where the patients are required to remain for long-term treatment. In 2014, the hospital dealt with 145 cases wherein long-term patients stayed on beyond the normal three-month period for up to a year or more.

On humanitarian grounds, the hospital first works to save the life of the patient, be it an Emirati or an expatriate, by stabilising him, after which the case management begins work to see if the patient can be transferred to his home.

Last year, the hospital resolved 124 such cases and is still working to resolve the remaining 21. Titico, a hospitality sector executive, is one of the longest-staying patients at the hospital.

Narrating the turn of events in this particular case, Naseem Mohammad Al Mulla, acting head of case management, medical affairs at Rashid Hospital, told Gulf News: “It is a humanitarian crisis. Titico was rushed to the emergency by friends in November 2008 when he had a stroke with extensive haemorrhaging in the brain.”

Normally, when a patient like this comes to the emergency ward, he is admitted with no questions asked. Titico’s condition did not stabilise for the next three years as he was shifted from the ICU to the ward and back again.

“There was extensive brain damage and Titico, despite all the medications and help from the hospital, continues to stay in a semi-comatose condition. On a scale of 8-15, his orientation is 8 which means he is not completely alert. We have done a tracheostomy to help him breathe and there is a feeding tube in his stomach. Beyond that, although he is stable, we cannot really help him. Usually, the psychology of patients like this works when they are in their own environment and can see their loved ones. We have had cases in the past where a patient reached home and made a rapid recovery. So we thought it would be ideal for Titico to go home,” said Nawal Mohammad Abu Mustafa, assistant administrative officer at Rashid Hospital’s case management section, who is working on this case.

The case management department has prepared his papers and is trying to liaise with hospitals in the Philippines who will admit him once he reaches there. Naseem said: “A nurse will accompany him with all the essential equipment required like suction tube, oxygen cylinders, medication and revival equipment. He will require about six to seven seats as he requires to go on a stretcher. But we have to make sure there is someone from his family to accept responsibility and have a smooth hand-over after which a hospital which accepts him will take him. Without the acceptance letter, there is not much we can do from here. So far, no one from his family has responded despite the Philippines Consulate’s efforts. We really feel the chances of improvement in his condition are much higher if he goes home.”

Frank Cimafranca, Philippines Consul General, confirmed that their office in Manila had tried to establish contact with Titico’s family but had not heard anything from them.

“It has been several weeks since our office tried to contact them; we are still in the process of trying but so far we have had no response. People have to understand that the consulate is not a hospital and we cannot take responsibility for him; it is beyond us. We are going to continue trying. In case we do not get a positive feedback, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in consultation with other government departments, will make arrangements to take responsibility and make the necessary arrangements to receive him. But this is going to take time,” Cimafranca said.

In the meanwhile, the frail, lost man, disconnected from his family, the world, and probably even with himself, lies in his bed in the ward, staring into space with vacant eyes.