Health board digs in over $35,000 bill

Shihab, who is 3 years old, was treated at Starship children's hospital, Auckland, for a stroke and now his family could be deported if his father cannot pay the $37,500 bill. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

The Auckland District Health Board is standing by its demand that a Bangladeshi family pay the medical bill for their 3-year-old son within 12 months.

The board says it is a health institution, not a financial one, and that Shihab Fahim's parents, who are not New Zealand residents, must pay for the treatment he received after suffering a stroke.

Shihab, who has complex congenital heart disease, suffered a stroke in March and spent 21 days in the Starship children's hospital.

He needs continuing therapy because he is paralysed down his right side, is unable to speak and is fed through a tube in his nose.

His father, Ashraf Uddin Khokon, who is in New Zealand on a student visa, has paid $2500 of the $37,500 medical bill and asked the board to allow him to pay $50 a week.

But the board said it would take more than 14 years to pay at that rate and that did not include the cost of any further treatments.

It sent Mr Khokon a letter saying the account must be settled within 12 months - the equivalent of $664.47 a week - or his case would be "placed in the hands of an international debt collector and New Zealand Immigration Service".

Acute care is provided to non-residents without upfront payment.

In a statement the board said it was not practical for it as a health institution to have long-term financial transactions. People who were not eligible for state-funded treatment were also usually in New Zealand on a short-term permit.

The Herald reported yesterday that Mr Khokon, a father of two, knew he would have to pay the bill but had no idea when his son was admitted to hospital how much it would cost. He said "it was a question of life and death". Mr Khokon, a homeopathy student, works part-time as a taxi driver and his medical insurance covers only 10 per cent of his children's medical expenses.

The Bangladesh Association of New Zealand and the Bangladesh New Zealand Friendship Society have appealed for help to pay Shihab's medical bill.

* Donations to ASB Bank, Albert St, account No 12-3113-0000326-01 (Ref. customer No-RZD0107).