Dubai: An Indian couple are desperately seeking help for their seven-month-old infant who needs an emergency life-saving surgery.
Mohammad Ibrahim, who was born pre-term on June 24 last year, was admitted to a Dubai hospital on November 30 with severe respiratory distress and cyanosis (bluish discolouration of the skin due to inadequate oxygenation).
Almost two months on, he continues to be on ventilator in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), waiting for an urgent PDA ligation – a surgical procedure that involves blocking a ductus arteriosus blood vessel that fails to close after birth.
Rising medical costs
However, with mounting medical costs and no insurance, mum Shazia Ahsan, 34, says she and her husband Mohammad Khan, 38, can’t afford the procedure.
“Our doctors say we must immediately transfer Ibrahim to Shaikh Khalifa Medical City in Abu Dhabi which is equipped to handle such cases but with a bill of over Dh150,000 already in just the ICU charges besides the unknown expenses coming up post surgery, we have no idea how we are ever going to pull this off,” says the mother of five who claims two of her children have dropped out of school because of financial constraints. “Once we even considered flying him to our hometown Bengaluru, but have abandoned those thoughts because of high costs and problems with our residency papers,” adds the housewife who has overstayed her visa by several months. “Every day is crucial for us but with no money and a huge waiting list at SKMC, we are stuck,” says the Discovery Gardens resident who has been in the UAE for 12 years now and works in a construction company.
Ibrahim’s medical report states that he suffers from ‘multiple congenital anomalies’ including dysmorphic features, an operated imperforated anus and chronic respiratory insufficiency. He has undergone a tracheostomy but is tube fed.
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