Helping Hands: Dubai move turns into nightmare as wife contracts H1N1

An Egyptian expat is facing imprisonment if he fails to pay Dh170,000 for the medical treatment of his wife’s life-threatening H1N1 flu infection, after he was told it would be free.

Egyptian couple A S and M S need help to pay Dh170,000 in hospital fees. Jeffrey Biteng / The National

ABU DHABI // When she was 23, Egyptian M S had been married for a year and had given birth to a girl. And she was the envy of her friends, as she was moving to Dubai.

A S, M S’s 28-year-old husband who was working in the emirate, got her and their daughter to join him in the UAE.

“Everyone envied us. It was a dream come true,” he says.

His wife and child arrived in Dubai last year. “My wife was in awe of Dubai and wanted to go everywhere and see everything,” says A S. “She had never seen anything like it and it was her first time out of her hometown.”

Outgoing and sociable by nature, M S quickly made friends and took to life in Dubai easily.

“Life couldn’t be better. She was happy, I was happy and our daughter was with us,” A S says.

But two months after his family arrived, they suffered an unexpected and life-threatening experience.

“My wife had a cold and I took her to the hospital. They told me it was the common cold and gave us some medicine and we went home,” says A S.

A few days later, on September 21 last year, A S came home from work to find his wife on the floor, coughing blood.

“I called the ambulance and we were rushed to a government hospital in Dubai,” he says.

Doctors said his wife had contracted the H1N1 flu virus. A few days later, her lungs shut down and she went into a coma.

“Doctors told me that she had a 30 per cent chance of survival,” says A S.

After 45 days of being in intensive care and the aid of a respiratory machine, M S regained consciousness.

“When she woke up, a doctor told me that the government covers the cost of treatment of any resident who has contracted such a disease,” says A S.

However, when M S was about to leave the hospital after her two-month stay, the hospital’s administration staff stopped A S from taking his wife home. “They told me to pay Dh170,000 in cash or produce a cheque with the amount. They said because my wife had not gone to quarantine and was immediately taken to intensive care, then the costs will not be covered,” he says.

With his monthly wage of Dh4,000 and no insurance coverage, it was impossible for A S to pay the hospital fees.

“[But] my friend agreed to give them a cheque with the amount until I could find the money to pay him back,” says A S.

He has since sought financial help from charities, albeit unsuccessfully.

M S, once a vibrant young woman, is unable to care for their daughter, as she is suffering from exhaustion and unable to move her legs.

The hospital says it will submit the cheque to the police on May 1 unless A S pays the entire amount.

“I can’t let my friend take the fall for this. I will send my wife and daughter back to Egypt and take responsibility for the cheque,” says A S. Unless he finds Dh107,000 before May, he will be sent to prison.

Hisham Al Zahrani, manager of zakat and social services at Dar Al Ber, is asking for help for the couple.

“This is a young couple at the beginning of their lives. No one would have expected that this would happen,” he says. “It was not their fault and we hope that they can be helped for their baby daughter’s sake, at least. To have her father spend his life in prison because her mother got sick is horrific.”