Unpaid hospital bill creates problems for Algerian mother in UAE

[Al-khiyal]

Unpaid bill lands parents of baby in a spot

Sharjah, April 19, 2010 -- A government hospital is refusing to issue a birth certificate to a baby until the parents of the little girl clear the hospital bill. The six-month-old baby, Al Batoul Mariam, is still without identification as Al Qasimi Hospital in Sharjah will not release her documents because the parents failed to pay Dh3,000 in hospital bills. Al Batoul Mariam's Algerian mother gave birth to her at Al Qasimi Hospital in October, but due to their poor financial situation, the parents failed to pay the delivery costs. Al Batoul Mariam is their first child. Al Batoul Mariam's mother, also called Mariam, told Gulf News that she was asked to pay Dh3,000, which she could not do. "I was asked to leave the hospital and they refused to issue [a] birth certificate for my baby," the mother said. Mariam said her daughter is now an illegal resident in the UAE as no passport was issued for her by the Algerian consulate or embassy. "We contacted our embassy and consulate to issue a passport for my baby, but they said we have to provide them with the birth certificate from the hospital," the mother said. "The hospital [would] call us to pay the money back," she said. "Neither my husband nor myself work."

Mariam, who used to work at Algeria's Ministry of Education while her husband was a lecturer at the Fine Arts University there, said they were cheated by one of their compatriots who told them to come to the UAE and realise all their dreams. "Those people issued us visas to come here after they charged us a huge amount of money," she said. She said they came here one-and-a-half years ago. "We came to Dubai airport and no one was waiting for us," she said. "We stayed two days at the airport till we got help from Dubai Police's Human Rights official who helped us to go to Sharjah and he found us a place to stay." The woman said the police official tried to find the people who had brought them to the UAE but he found out that they had left the country. "We have no clue about the rules and regulations here and that we needed a sponsor in order to stay legally," she said, adding that they thought the situation was like Europe where they could work and stay. "We were helped by some people to whom we paid Dh8,000 in order to issue us [a] visa," she said. "That was all our money." She said her husband was not able to find work. "We rented an apartment in Sharjah by depositing my husband's passport," she said. "The owner [will hold] his passport until we pay the rent." Mariam said she and her husband are stuck here."We want to go back to our country. We have no idea what to do. Some people are offering us food and temporary shelter." An official at Al Qasimi Hospital said: "The family said they cannot deposit their passports and they had no IDs with them like driving licence or health card to keep as a guarantee. We told them they can collect the certificate when they pay the bill."

[Al-khiyal]

Little illegal resident receives birth certificate

Sharjah, April 20, 2010 -- Baby girl Al Batoul Mariam has been issued a birth certificate, passport and identification because of good-hearted Gulf News readers. Many Gulf News readers said that the story of Al Batoul Mariam touched their hearts and many felt they had to help her. Gulf News had highlighted the issue of the six-month-old girl, who was left without identification after Al Qasimi Hospital in Sharjah refused to issue her a birth certificate, because the parents failed to pay Dh3,000 in hospital bills. The baby's mother gave birth to her first child at Al Qasimi Hospital in October, but due to their poor financial situation, the parents could not pay the delivery costs. The baby's parents, who had their passports seized by the owner of the apartment where they stayed were relieved Gulf News readers offered to help. Readers of several nationalities and different religious backgrounds who read the little girl's story helped the family get her birth certificate and aided them in getting back their passports so they can leave the UAE.

"We are happy and thankful to the generous people who wanted to help us. We were desperate and in pain and had no clue what to do," said the girl's mother. "We were in a dilemma and we had no idea what to do. We ended up in the street but with the help of some people we found temporary shelter but now we hope to go back to our country soon. We used to think day and night how we can have a birth certificate for our baby and how we could go back to our home. I am waiting for the day to go back to my country with my family," she said. She said her husband will collect the baby's birth certificate on Tuesday and will then apply for a passport for her at the Algerian consulate.