Critically ill Mats Öberg has returned to Sweden

Swedish Mats Öberg, who had been caught in a Thai hospital for three weeks, has now, in mid August 2016, returned to Sweden.

Mats Öberg from the little Swedish town Eslöv has been caught in a Thai hospital since he landed in Bangkok in late July 2016. Mr. Öberg’s insurance company, Trygg-Hansa was not willing to pay to get him home, since, as they say, he was already ill when he left Sweden. His family travelled to Bangkok to be by his side during his time at the hospital whilst desperately trying to get him home.

Mats-Oberg-Bumrungrad

Mr. Öberg has been in need of a respirator to breathe. Since he got to Thailand, he has had a stroke and a number of blood clots in his legs. Furthermore, his heart has started to beat out of rhythm which has resulted in him receiving heart medicine. That is only some of the battles the father of three has fought in the Thai hospital.

He was embedded at the Bumrungrad Hospital in the Thai capital, Bangkok. Bumrungrad is a private hospital and the most expensive one of its kind in Thailand. Since the start of August 2016 his family consisting three children and an ex wife have been by his side desperately trying to get him home. Each day the bill from the hospital enlarged, and the family’s hope of bringing their sick father home seemed further and further away.

Since the family found out that the insurance company was not willing to help, they started seeking help from the Swedish Embassy and SOS International. They needed help figuring out what to do and how to do it, but they were told to look for help elsewhere.

“They were less than helpful,” says the oldest brother, Rasmus Öberg. He says that ever since the family got to Thailand, they have been sent back and forth between the embassy, SOS and Trygg-Hansa – neither of them to any help to the family.

All in all, the hospital bill together with the ambulance flight ended up costing the family around 1 million SEK. With help from friends as well as strangers along with local Swedish businesses the family managed to raise around 900.000 SEK! And for that, they are very grateful.

“We could not have done it without all the help we got from different people from home,” says Rasmus.

The next step for the family is to make an appeal for the insurance company to reopen the case and pay the hospital bill as well as the medical transportation Mats Öberg needed to get home to Sweden.

About Maria Jønsson

Maria Jønsson is a journalist trainee working at ScandAsia from 1 August 2016 till February 2017.

View all posts by Maria Jønsson

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