Dubai: On Mother’s Day earlier this month, 76-year-old Kaniz Fatima’s six children spent the day worrying about their mum and their bleak future.
The elderly Pakistani woman underwent her third surgery on that day. She has been under treatment in the surgical ICU ward in Rashid Hospital’s Trauma Centre for over a month, with the hospital bills adding up to nearly Dh200,000.
A Dubai resident for three decades, Fatima has two sons and four daughters, aged between 20 and 40 years, who grew up here. However, her children, all of whom are unmarried, are not in a position to either foot her hospital bill or to pay the Dh60,000 payment due by this month end towards their house rent.
Her son Imran Khalique said he works as a freelance clerk for a transport company while his elder brother Suhail is a driver. “I don’t get paid regularly and I have not received any salary since January. My brother earns only Dh2500. None of my sisters is employed. It has become very difficult for us to make both ends meet,” he told Gulf News.
He said the family’s financial crisis began after his father, who used to work as a foreman in a company, passed away following kidney failure in 2009. “Whatever we got as his end-of-service benefits have been spent for our expenses here. Now, we can just manage to have food.”
His sisters, Rubeena and Saima, said their mother fell sick amidst their worries about the impending renewal of their house lease. They said Fatima had to be rushed to hospital on the night of February 19 after she had a fall in the washroom.
“She could not move and she was crying in pain. We called the ambulance and first took her to Iranian Hospital. But they said they cannot treat her there and we were asked to take her to Rashid Hospital,” said Saima.
The women said their mother underwent a surgery on her left leg on February 20. In a few days, she developed pain in her stomach. “Her left leg and stomach started bloating up and she started vomiting continuously and complained of severe pain in the stomach. That is when the doctors said there is blood clotting in her stomach and did another surgery on March 9,” said Saima.
Imran said the whole family was extremely concerned about Fatima’s deteriorating health even after the third surgery since the wound is still left open due to blood clotting inside her stomach.
Since the family is unable to pay the rent, they are also worried about penalties that might be imposed by the building management.
“When I approached the building management, they said there will be a fine of 10 per cent of the new rent in May if I don’t pay three months’ rent in cash during renewal of the contract by April. We have no clue where we will go. We cannot take our mother to Pakistan in this condition. We neither have our own home nor many relatives back in Karachi. Since we were raised here, we don’t know much about our place,” said Imran.
The family is now pinning their hopes on financial support from good-hearted residents who would be kind enough to help them tide over the crisis.
