Nazia Waheed had an ordinary pregnancy. She and her husband, Imtiaz, prepared for the birth of their first child like any couple would: they bought baby clothes and mulled over names.
The couple moved to Dubai from their home country of India two and a half years ago in search of better opportunities.
Mr Waheed works for a transportation company and earns Dh3,000 a month.
The couple have no health insurance but they planned for their baby’s birth by saving Dh6,000 to pay for delivery costs.
In August, Mrs Waheed went into labour. The couple packed their delivery bag and set off for hospital where Mrs Waheed delivered their son, Mohammed.
After the baby was born, complications arose and Mrs Waheed began bleeding heavily.
“Doctors said that they would remove my uterus,” she said.
Mrs Waheed remembers little after that. “I fainted and was taken to ICU.”
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She remained in a coma in hospital for a little more than two weeks. When she came to she found that while her uterus had been spared, she had developed kidney failure due to of all the medication the hospital had given her.
Mrs Waheed was put on dialysis and had two sessions.
“The hospital is now asking us for Dh75,000,” she said.
Mr Waheed wants to send his wife and now two-month-old son to India until he is able to settle the debt but the hospital has withheld their passport and refuses to issue a birth certificate for Mohammed.
“We don’t know what to do or how we can pay this money back,” Mrs Waheed said. “We have no insurance or anyone to help us pay the hospital back.”
Hisham Al Zahrani, manager of Zakat and Social Services at Dar Al Ber said: “The family have no support and without a birth certificate and their passports, their situation will only get worse.”
He said the hospital should not have withheld their passports but the charity is reaching out to the public to help the family.
“We hope readers can help them settle the entire amount so they can settle this debt and retrieve their documents,” he said.
salnuwais@thenational.ae
