A
Nigerian woman is unable to pay her over £500,000 (about 192m) NHS bill after
giving birth to quadruplets in a west London hospital.
The
43-year-old new mother, known as Priscilla, told staff she was unable to pay
her bill after having the babies at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in
White City.
She
said she intended to give birth in Chicago where she has family members after
her doctor said Nigerian hospitals do not have the “facilities to cater for the
children.”
But
she was turned away from the US by border officials after failing to show proof
that she could pay for the birth and went into labour in London in November on
her return to Nigeria.
Her
contractions started as she was mid-flight from Chicago to Heathrow, and she
was rushed to hospital as soon as it landed.
Tragically,
one of her babies died immediately, while another, named Deborah, died a few
days later.
Priscilla,
who underwent IVF treatment to help her conceive, is now living in a London
hostel run by a charity while her two surviving babies, Elijah and Esther,
remain in hospital.
Her
husband is unable to travel to the UK due to a further lack of funds. The family’s
shocking story will feature on BBC 2 documentary Hospitals on Wednesday,
February 1st.
Her
two surviving children, Elijah and Esther, were so premature they have had to
be looked after in neonatal intensive care at a cost of £20,000 a week.
The
cost of her complex birth and continued treatment of the babies has already
reached £500,000, but Priscilla admits that there’s no way she can pay the
money back, even if she worked every day for the rest of her life.
She
said she didn’t plan to give birth in London, as she had been travelling back
to Nigeria via Heathrow when she went into Labour.
The
case is featured on the BBC2 programme Hospital, which will be screened
tonight.
It
shows the effect of so-called ‘health tourism’, which is when people from outside
the UK are treated on the NHS.
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