Health board refuses to back down on child's bill

Shihab, who is 3 years old, with his father Ashraf Uddin Khokon. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

Fourteen and half years is too long to wait for full payment of a non-resident child's heart disease treatment, the Auckland District Health Board (ADHB) says.

The father of three-year-old stroke victim Shihab Fahim has asked the ADHB to allow the family to repay their $37,500 medical bill in weekly payments of $50.

But the board has told the family the bill must be paid within 12 months -- the equivalent of $664.47 a week -- or the case would be "placed in the hands of an international debt collector and New Zealand immigration service."

The board said today that it was "a health institution, not a financial institution".

Publicly-funded healthcare was provided for New Zealand citizens and permanent residents, it said in a statement.

However, Shihab's father Ashraf Uddin Khokon was on a student visa, so the Fahim family was "non-eligible" and had to pay for acute care within a year.

"In this case the family wants to take 14.42 years to pay, not including the cost of any further treatments, and it is expected Shihab will require further treatment."

The board said it would not turn away non-residents requiring acute care, but no treatment would be given for elective services without payment up front.

"Non-eligible people are usually on a short-term permit in NZ and can leave the country without full payment."

The board said Shihab had had heart surgery in New Delhi.

The stroke was an uncommon but recognised complication for children with his condition and New Delhi cardiologists had accepted him for further surgery later this year.

"Shihab's parents have been told that non-acute treatment is not available for free in New Zealand.

"They have been advised to return to Bangladesh many times but have chosen to stay in New Zealand."

Shihab was seen at Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland in March , after he suffered a stroke while outside playing.

He has been left paralysed down his right side, is unable to speak and is fed through a tube in his nose.

His father, Ashraf Uddin Khokon, who works part time as a taxi driver, said he knew he would have to pay for the surgery and had paid $2500 so far.

The Bangladesh New Zealand Friendship Society has appealed to its Auckland members to help raise funds to pay for Shihab's hospital treatment.

Anyone wanting to make a donation can send it to ASB Bank, Albert St, Account no 12-3113-0000326-01 (a hospital bank account).

- NZPA