30-year old Swede, Marcus Millberg, is hospitalized in Thailand with brain injury due to a motorcycle accident on Koh Phangan.
The respirator is keeping Marcus Millberg alive, but soon his family will be out of money to support the hospitalization.
“We haven’t received any kind of support from Sweden at all, we’ve paid for everything ourselves”, Marcus Milbergs dad, Magnus Millberg, tells Swedish newspaper, Expressen.
Marcus Millberg was on his way to his hotel on the Thai island Koh Phangan when the accident occurred last Sunday, 21. February. His dad reports:
“From what I’ve heard, a moped came from a cross street and Marcus tried to dodge it but didn’t manage to and now he has a serious brain injury”, he says.
“It’s a nightmare, your child is the single closest thing to your heart”, he continues.
Marcus’ friends arrived to the scene about half an hour after the accident. They say that he was taken by an ambulance but at the hospital they hesitated before they examined his injuries.
“They will not begin any treatment before they have a some kind of a guarantee for payment. They were just keeping him alive. So it took one and a half day before they started the examination”, Magnus Millberg reports.
Now he’s at the hospital in the area, but treatment is getting costly. A few days prior to the accident, Marcus Millberg’s travel insurance expired. The treatment costs a now nearing 1 million SEK.
“There’s no support from Sweden at all, we pay everything out of our own pockets. The respirator costs 20.000 SEK per day. The best thing to do would be to bring him home, but the transport expenses would cost 1 million SEK, and we can’t cover that”, Magnus Millberg states.
Now friends of the Millberg family have started a foundation to bring Marcus Millberg home.
Wednesday morning he underwent a brain surgery.
“If he had not been operated he would have had only a 10 percent chance to survive. It went well, but his state is still critical”, says Magnus Millberg.
“There were no new bleedings, so that is positive. They’re positive that he’ll be able to walk again, because his spine is not broken, but he’ll suffer from epilepsy and likely he has lost ability to speak”, he continues.
Now they’re planning to relocate Marcus Millberg to a hospital with better abilities to handle potential complications.
“We ignore the risk that we might have to sell our house, our car and everything else, as long as Marcus will be alright. Luckily we had some savings. But there might be others that do not. You has to be covered to your teeth”, Magnus Millberg ends.
(Source: Expressen)
It has to be stressed repeatedly: If you extend your stay, EXTEND YOUR INSURANCE, TOO! Some actually arrive Thailand without any insurance cover at all. Thailand could make it mandatory to buy an insurance – if not from back home, then right at border or in the airport. But although the idea has been considered by the the Thai Ministry for Foreign Affairs it was not implemented.