Tourist not being returned home due to debt in Turkey

A Russian tourist fell into a coma while on holiday in Turkey. The local hospital is not releasing the patient for transport to Moscow until the family pays $20,000 (about 1.7 million rubles) for an emergency operation, Liter.kz reports, citing SHOT.

62-year-old Natalia Gerasimova flew from Tyumen to Antalya with her grandchildren on June 22. On the fifth day of her vacation, the tourist had a heart attack in the hotel. She was hospitalized. As the patient’s relatives told SHOT, they were initially told that all treatment costs would be covered by insurance.

Relatives later found a hospital in Moscow and agreed on transporting the tourist to the Russian Federation. But Natalia suddenly felt worse and needed heart surgery. After that, Turkish doctors presented the family with a huge bill, and the insurance company, according to them, declared that the case was not an insurance case, promised to pay only five percent of the costs and help with transportation.

For more than a month, the Russian tourist has been alone in the Anatolian hospital in Side, her grandchildren were taken to Tyumen. Local doctors are simply keeping the woman alive, saying that they do not have the ability to fully treat her.

Relatives were able to pay a minimum amount, but the patient is not released until the account is fully closed. Each day in the hospital costs +1 thousand dollars.

The family is desperately asking for their mother and grandmother to be saved.