Malaysian Family On Holiday Struggle To Bring Dad Home After Medical Bills Soar To RM800K
81-year-old A. Manaf Mohd Noh is stranded in South Korea after falling ill during his vacation.
By Tang Ruxyn — 21 Dec 2017, 12:01 PM
A Malaysian man's filial children decided to bring their father on a family vacation to South Korea recently
According to New Straits Times (NST), the children were hoping that this trip would help their father take his mind off their mother’s death.
It was learned that A. Manaf Mohd Noh's late wife suffered from Parkinson's disease. She was cared for by her loving husband until she passed away in November last year.
81-year-old Manaf, fondly called as 'Tok Manaf', travelled to Seoul for a six-day tour on 1 December with two of his children, Marina and Mahfiz, and his four grandchildren.
It was supposed to be a happy occasion but things took a bad turn when Tok Manaf fell seriously ill
Harian Metro reported Tok Manaf's eldest son, Azman, as saying that his father complained of having chest pains and fatigue to his siblings on 4 December, adding that they returned to the hotel but his father's condition worsened.
Tok Manaf then started vomiting and collapsed.
"The hotel contacted the ambulance and my father was taken to the hospital for further treatment," Azman was quoted as saying.
The doctors found out that Tok Manaf had heart complications and he needed an immediate surgery on 5 December given the severity of his condition. The doctors then performed a second medical procedure on Tok Manaf as they found suspected bleeding from his veins.
Thankfully, everything has been well so far and the elderly man, who is still in the ICU (intensive care unit) is recuperating in the hospital in Seoul.
Unfortunately, the family is now in a terrible financial predicament as they are burdened with hospital bills amounting to more than RM800,000
It is understood that the family could not afford to settle the full amount of medical expenses in one go, so they appealed to the hospital to allow them to pay 25% of the total bill first and allow Tok Manaf to travel home when he is fit. However, the hospital insisted that Tok Manaf will not be able to fly home until the full payment is made.
"We are at our wits ends on what to do. Getting financial assistance on such short notice is near impossible. Even if the siblings put together whatever resources we currently have, it is still not enough to cover the total cost of the bill.
"His (Tok Manaf) travel insurance only covers up to the age of 79. My father is 81," 40-year-old Mahfiz was quoted as saying by NST.
Tok Manaf's family has started a crowdfunding campaign on 14 December to raise funds to get him home
The rest of the family, with the exception of Tok Man's son who stayed behind to care for his father, have already returned to Malaysia earlier to find ways to sort out the medical bills.
The family managed to pull together RM475,000 so far, thanks to generous contributions from their relatives, friends, and coworkers. However, they are still in need of another RM300,000.
At the time of writing, the crowdfunding campaign has already raised more than USD20,000 of the USD100,000 goal
"We beseech any kind souls to help ease Manaf’s medical burden and bring him safely home to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as soon as we can. Once home, we will put him in the care of the local and more affordable medical care.
"We target USD100,000 to be amassed in two weeks time as part of on-going medical expenses and his repatriation costs, from Korea to Malaysia," read the message, written by Tok Manaf's cousin on the campaign page.
To learn more more about how you can help Tok Manaf and his family, visit the GoFundMe page here.