Filipino couple John and Monico Tubo are now facing huge hospital bills in Dubai after giving birth to their twin daughters last February.

The twins were born prematurely and needed extra medical attention that is why the couple must now pay off Dh57,000 in their hospital bill.

The twins are now in stable condition and healthy. The couple have used up their yearly health insurance amounting to Dh150,000.

The mother works as a nanny while the father works as a barber. The NMC Royal Hospital has allowed the children and their parents to go home but the mother needs to leave her passport to the hospital as a guarantee that they will pay the hospital bill.

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“I am just a nanny. How can I be expected to pay such a huge bill?,” she told the National.

The mother said that some of their friends were not able to help them because they too are struggling financially.

“They are all low-paid nannies who cannot afford to help us beyond giving us food or nappies. A lot of our friends have also left the country … because of the pandemic,” she said.

The NMC Health said that the hospital already gave them a discount amounting to Dh20,000.

Under rules governing donations, members of the public can help the couple pay off the bill, as long as payments are directly made to the hospital.

The couple cannot set up any fundraising activity without an official charity is also against the law.

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The family said that her husband is planning to leave Dubai together with their children as she stays in order to pay their hospital bill.

“Being portrayed as trying to make money out of somebody’s misery is a challenge in healthcare you always face,” a spokesman for NMC Royal Hospital said.

“We were not [refusing to release the children] but somebody had to give a guarantee. She was fully told how much it would cost and when the children would be able to be released,” the spokesman added.

The official said that it was Tubo who gave the idea of offering her passport as collateral because the hospital cannot get any form of guarantee from her. (TDT)