CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 6, 2014) – A 59-year old British national has desperately appealed for help after being stranded in hospital in northern Mindanao for nearly two months now, according to a report by the Daily Mail Online.
George Keiller said he cannot afford to pay his medical bills at the Polymedic General Hospital in Cagayan de Oro City where he was admitted after collapsing on the last leg of his journey on February 11.
Keiller, who is suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, said his bills have so far reached £4,000 and the hospital would not let him go. The report said that Keiller, from Clackmannanshire in Scotland, was put on a life-support machine within hours of touching down in the Philippines after his chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – which causes a narrowing of the airways – struck him down.
Doctors at the hospital have said they will not discharge Keiller until they are paid at least half of his burgeoning invoice. “After more than six weeks I’m now just desperate for this nightmare to end,” Keiller said.
He said he has raised £1,300 but he still remains almost £1,000 short. “I’m now relying on donations and praying that they come soon,” Keiller told the Daily Mail. “Until I get enough money I remain virtually a prisoner in this hospital.”
“If I can be given a loan by someone I’d be so grateful and wouldn’t let anyone down as far as repayment goes. I’ve been terrified here. There have been times where I’ve feared I’ll never see outside of this hospital again. I’m now just desperate for this nightmare to end,” he said.
The newspaper said it interview a Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson who said: “We are aware of the hospitalisation of a British National in the Philippines. We are providing consular assistance.” (Mindanao Examiner)
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