Mourning OFW parents seek help in paying baby’s hospital bill

MANILA, Philippines – After their two-month old baby died on June 20, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) couple is appealing for help in settling their unpaid bill of AED 250,000 (P3,189,160) in a local Zulekha Hospital in Dubai.

Rhodora Tindugan prematurely gave birth to Baby Timothy on April 20, after only 27 weeks in gestation. According to her husband Rollie, this was due to stress after he lost his job as a graphic designer in March.

“After rushing to the emergency of at least 6 hospitals where we were refused help, we reached this hospital that admitted my wife and Timothy was born,” Rollie told Gulfnews.com.

After two months of being confined, doctors discharged baby Timothy, assuring his parents that “he was doing fine.” After two weeks, Timothy died in their home due to lack of oxygen.

“We lacked the wherewithal to care for our child and he died in his sleep,” Rollie said.

He added that the debt must be cleared by September 20.

Series of misfortunes

The couple’s visa expired on May 5 while it was in the possession of the hospital, which illegally took their passports as collateral for their mounting bills. The hospital only returned the passports last week.

They asked Rhodora’s company for sponsorship but it refused to help, while Rollie’s insurance provider is still investigaing the case. It was not specified if the company would cover the medical bills.

Rollie speculated that the hospital discharged them earlier than they should have been, because of an assumption that the family could not produce the amount needed for Timothy’s medication.

Reports from TheNational.ae said that the hospital can advise the Tindugan family on their payment options as long as they “adhere to our policies.”

Call for help

Because their story caught the attention of netizens, fund raising efforts have been planned to help the Tindugan family.

Graphic artists in Dubai will hold a fundraising graphic arts workshop on Wednesday, July 8 at the Versailles Hotel in Dubai. This will include lectures on Unreal, 3d Modelling and Rendering, Lumion, and other graphic arts processes.

Rollie also launched an online donation drive on July 2 via gofundme.com. As of writing, the call has been shared 653 times on Facebook.  

At present, the Tindugan family is completing Baby Timothy’s birth and death registration process so that he will have a name when he is buried. – Rappler.com

To help the Tindugan family, you can contact Rollie directly through the following information: Rollie Tindugan (+971509280017/+971564785208) or rj.tindugan08@gmail.com.

*1 UAE Dirham = P12.76 

Adrian Jimenea majors in communication and media studies in UP Visayas and is an intern at Rappler under MovePH. He tries not to get lost in Manila so he befriended GoogleMaps and Waze.