A Filipino salesman’s joy over the birth of his first-born in Dubai is fading fast as he now faces mounting hospital bills, with doctors warning that the infant may have to spend up to several weeks in the hospital.
Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) Ricter Calixto, 32, voiced fears that the bills — which as of Saturday night had run up to Dh71,000 (P847,387) — may eventually land him in jail.
“I'm just happy that my wife and child are safe. My son is still fighting for his life. But I'm concerned that this happy moment in my life might also mean jail time for me," Calixto said in an article posted on news site Gulf News.
Baby Ric Andrei, Calixto's first child, was delivered via C-section or Caesarian operation on Nov. 11. The infant is racking up bills of around Dh700 (P8,354) per hour, amounting to around Dh9,800 (P116,963) a day, for his treatment at the neonatal intensive care unit.
Calixto, a native of Zambales, estimates that hospital costs may reach up to Dh250,000 (P2.984 million) by the time his wife and son are discharged.
Calixto earns less than Dh5,000 (P59,675) a month, and lives in a relatively low-economic class neighborhood in Rashidiya in the eastern region of Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
His wife Analisa, 29, was 31 weeks pregnant when she was rushed to the hospital for dizziness, vomiting, temporary blindness, and pregnancy-induced hypertension.
Analisa was undergoing regular check-ups at the Metro Clinic in Deira. However, over two months ahead of her due date on the third week of January 2011, signs of a severe form of pre-eclampsia — also known as pregnancy-induced hypertension, in which high blood pressure and protein in the urine develop in the second trimester of pregnancy — ensued.
Pre-eclampsia may cause complications if the infant is delivered prematurely.
“Our original plan was to go to an affordable private hospital in mid-January, when she would have been due. But since it was an emergency and the closest hospital to our place [Rashidiya] was Welcare, my concern was her safety and I just followed my instinct," Calixto said.
“I know I did the right thing, because my wife and our baby are both alive today. That's what really mattered to me," Calixto said.
“I'm doing all I can, begging people around me. The bills are scary," he added.
Continuing treatment
Baby Ric Andrei, who weighed 1.6 kg at birth, has spent the 10 days since his birth connected to a ventilator or breathing machine while undergoing phototherapy or light therapy, wherein doses of bright light at controlled wavelengths is used to treat newborn infants.
Dr. Khalil Ur Rehman, the pediatrician at the Metro Clinic, explained that Ric Andrei’s chest X-ray suggests a respiratory distress syndrome — a breathing disorder affecting newborn infants — which needs to be closely monitored until his condition stabilizes.
This may mean a waiting period ranging from several days to several weeks, Rehman said.
On the day Analisa came out of the operating room, Calixto asked the hospital to allow him to move his wife and baby to a more affordable hospital.
“Unfortunately, we were not allowed because it was too risky to move the baby out of the neonatal ICU," he said.
But the Gulf News report quoted a hospital spokesperson as saying that the baby can now be moved.
The spokesperson added they have offered up to 20 percent discount and a payment option until April 2011.
“The baby is safe and stable and it's up to the family to stay with us or move to another hospital if the father signs a waiver," the spokesperson said. — DM/LRS/VS, GMANews.TV
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