In a mind-boggling story that's almost too hard to believe, one couple was reportedly charged 444,123.68 AED (more than $120,000 in USD) after their daughter was born prematurely in a country where the mom had no insurance. The British-born father, Azhar Saleem, and his wife, Syeda Khola Adnan of Dubai, were asked to fork over the huge sum after Adnan unexpectedly gave birth in Saudi Arabia while she was waiting for her British visa to come through. But that's not the worst part. According to their GoFundMe page, the new parents weren't given much time to pay up and were given an ultimatum: Settle the bill or you can't take your little one home.
The trouble first started shortly after the couple got married back in December 2018.
As Adnan explained on the GoFundMe page earlier this month, the new mom was intending to live with her husband in the UK, which has publicly funded health services, when they hit a snafu. She'd been staying in the UK for months on a visa but was forced to return to Dubai in March to apply for a spouse visa — which was surprisingly denied.
"My visa for the UK got rejected because we submitted the wrong kind of IELTS [English] test, based on our [lawyer's] advice," Adnan explained. "Because of my visa being rejected, I was separated from my husband and had to face delivering my baby [alone] In Dubai."
The couple's little girl was originally due in October, which they hoped would be enough time to gain the visa, but fate seemed to have other plans.
Severe complications forced the mom-to-be to visit a fetal specialist in July, who immediately saw that her amniotic fluid was low and admitted her to the hospital.
"Our baby's heart rate and blood pressure was decreasing rapidly," Adnan explained in her GoFundMe post. "They immediately did an emergency C-section and our baby was delivered by the grace of God."
On July 14, 2019, little Amal was born 23 weeks premature, weighing just 400 grams and barely the size of her mother's hand.
Because Adnan didn't have health insurance in Dubai at the time (fully expecting to give birth back in the UK), she was handed a shocking bill soon after giving birth: $120,000. And that amount would only keep growing over the weeks that followed, because her daughter needed extensive care in the neonatal intensive care unit.
On her GoFundMe page, the new mom shared that she expected it to climb to about $246,00 when all was said and done — an astronomical fee for any couple to pay.
"We tried to reason with the hospital, offering monthly installments based on our capabilities," she wrote, "but they rejected our notion and astonishingly asked for the whole payment up front or split up the payment in three installments."
The staggering fee was even harder to swallow because they were trying to save up enough money for Adnan to apply for another visa.
Meanwhile, they couldn't take their daughter home even if they wanted to.
"The hospital has threatened legal action and the doctor has advised they won’t give us our daughter back until the bill is totally cleared," Adnan's post continued. "Neither me or my husband have that sort of money to pay for the bill. As we recently got married and applied for my UK visa we are still paying off loans that we took for that, and I do not work."
With few other options, the desperate parents launched a fundraising page.
"We really need help to bring my baby home, any kind of help would be appreciated," Adnan wrote. "You don't realize the situations you can find yourself in until you find yourself in them. I have never thought of asking for help before in my life, but sometimes you have to bite the bullet and your pride and do everything you can to bring your loved ones, in this instance our baby home."
Before long, donations from kind strangers all over the world began to flow in -- but on Friday, they received some amazing news.
In an update to her post, the mom shared that her bill has been paid, thanks to the sheer kindness of a stranger. One anonymous and very, very gracious donor settled the bill with the hospital for 250,000 AED (or $68,061.25), and the entire matter was able to be resolved. The couple was overjoyed, and as Adnan happily shared on their GoFundMe page that they are working with the campaign site to refund money to everyone who donated money to them.
Donations have since been closed, but Adnan wrote that she plans to keep the account open so she can donate to others who are in similar situations.
"I will continue to donate on a monthly basis until my last breath," she shared. "The support has been overwhelming and will stay with us for the rest of our lives. To think that your daughter will not be allowed to come home when ready, due to an astronomical bill gave us more than sleepless nights."
For now, Amal still remains in the NICU, but the couple finally sees an end in sight.
"We hope that within a matter of weeks she will be at home where she can continue to rest, grow, be a baby and when we can finally hold her," Adnan shared.
In the meantime, they hope that others will continue to "keep our daughter in their prayers," she continued, because "the love and support was overwhelming."
CafeMom reached out to NMC Royal Hospital for comment but has yet to hear back.
