A British tourist is in a coma fighting for his life after collapsing in a hostel in Cambodia, with his family facing medical bills of £8,000 a day.
Ben Wilkins, 32, from Chinley in Derbyshire, had been on holiday on the island of Koh Rong for just two weeks when he fell ill.
Friends found him unconscious in his room last Monday before he was rushed to a hospital in Siem Reap and then flown to the capital, Phnom Penh.
Ben’s sister Imogen said he had “kidney failure and severe pneumonia” and is now in a coma with a ventilator helping him breathe. She hasn’t woken up for five days.
The family now faces costs of up to £8,000 a day for intensive care in notoriously bad third world hospitals, or an air ambulance back to the UK for up to £200,000.
Imogen, from Manchester, said: “We don’t know how long Ben was unconscious in his room alone.
‘The five and a half hour ambulance ride from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh was to allow him to receive dialysis, as without it he would have died.
“Most of the country does not have treatments like dialysis.”
British tourist Ben Wilkins is in a coma fighting for his life after collapsing in a hostel in Cambodia
Ben’s sister Imogen said he had “kidney failure and severe pneumonia” and is now in a coma with a ventilator helping him breathe. She hasn’t woken up in five days.
Ben’s family now face bills of £8,000 a day for intensive care in notoriously bad third world hospitals, or an air ambulance back to the UK for up to £200,000.
Imogen said the young man, who was previously healthy, had no underlying health problems and did not take out travel insurance because he had traveled to the country several times before without problems.
He even adopted two dogs from the island before bringing them back to the UK with his girlfriend.
Ben’s mother, father and stepfather have flown to Cambodia to be by his side.
Imogen added: “When you’re young you think you’re invincible, so not only is all of this a heartbreaking strain on us all, it’s also a huge financial cost to our family.”
‘It’s £8,000 a day to stay in ICU, before the costs of ambulances, medications, procedures, dialysis and tests.
“We have spent over £60,000 and every day the amount is growing enormously.”
In an effort to manage the rising costs of Ben’s care, Imogen and her mother Carolyn launched a Go to the Fund Me page to request donations.
‘Please help us save Ben. Anything you can contribute to help cover the cost of medical bills to try to save his life and bring him home will be greatly appreciated.
‘I need my brother and my parents need their son at home.
“He’s on the other side of the world and he needs to get home.”
‘Thank you so much.’
The fundraiser had amassed £36,000 as of Tuesday morning.
Ben Wilkins, 32, from Chinley, Derbyshire, had been on holiday on the island of Koh Rong for just two weeks when he fell ill.
In an effort to manage the rising costs of Ben’s care, Imogen and her mother Carolyn launched a Go Fund Me page asking for donations.
An update posted to the Go Fund Me page this morning suggested Ben had begun to respond to treatment, although he remained in a coma.
‘Thank you very much to everyone who has donated. “We are so overwhelmed by the response and kindness shown,” Imogen wrote.
‘Ben is definitely starting to respond to his treatments in the last 24 hours, which is great news. He is still on a ventilator and receiving dialysis for his kidney failure and his pneumonia remains severe.
“But there is positive news and he is responding to treatments.”
Cambodia was once home to one of the world’s largest empires and the capital was the “Pearl of the East” in the 1950s, but now the country is one of the most underdeveloped in Asia.
It was decimated by American bombing raids in the 1970s, followed by the twisted reign of the genocidal Khmer Rouge, which was supported by neighboring Thailand.
Its infrastructure has never fully recovered and its hospitals are notoriously bad.