Newborn In Neonatal Intensive Care After ‘Overstayer’ TCN Gave Birth – Faces Huge Hospital Bills
Corazon* – a woman who was held at hospital when she was over eight months pregnant- has given birth. Almost as soon as she had done so, “the baby was whisked away to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit,” said Patricia Graham.
“She has been discharged from hospital without her baby,” continued Graham, who has been working tirelessly to help Corazon and her family – fighting an uphill battle against an inhumane Maltese state strategy.
This strategy seeks to carelessly exploit Third Country Nationals, extracting as much value as possible, in exchange for as little as can conceivably be given.
“Mater Dei has no facilities for the parents of babies placed in NICU to remain on the premises, so she has no alternative but to go home.”
The story of how Corazon got to this point is depressingly simple. She and her husband have lived and worked in Malta for six years. During that time, they had their first child, who is now four-years-old. Corazon has now given birth to her second Maltese-born child, this time by C-section.
In the weeks leading up to her due date, Corazon became aware that she was about to start dealing with the bureaucratic nightmare being faced by dozens of TCNs in Malta.
When an employer has neglected to register their employee with Jobsplus and that employee tries to inform ID Malta that they would like to change their job, ID Malta’s third party checks will “reveal” that the worker has been “overstaying”.
The TCN will then be issued a deportation notice – giving them ten days to leave Malta.
They can appeal this decision on the grounds that they’ve been working, and that ID Malta knew that, because a work permit was issued – but the appeals process may take months. In that time, they won’t be allowed to work.
If – as was the case for Corazon – this all happened immediately prior to a majorly important medical procedure, it would mean that they do not have medical coverage, at precisely the worst moment.
They would have to pay out of pocket.
Through no fault of her own, Corazon was forced to endure a whole lot of stress, which caused her body to simulate labour. These symptoms landed her in hospital several times prior to actually giving birth.
This stress endangered her life, and potentially caused problems for her baby.
That baby is now in intensive care, and Corazon’s visiting hours are limited. In the midst of ongoing bureaucratic crisis and billing stress, Corazon does not get to see her baby between the hours of 1.30pm and 5.30pm.
“In this situation, the billing department is more interested in taking a woman who is still recovering from major surgery to the billing section, to compute what she owes. She was physically taken, not even in a wheelchair, to billing.”
The stress endured by Corazon, her family, and so many other TCNs in similar situations, was absolutely avoidable.
If the Maltese state chose to prioritise the needs of the many – of those who keep afloat most of Malta’s public and private enterprise – and actually considered TCNs to be people deserving of equal treatment, it could solve this problem.
If it continues to lazily sit back, passively (and sometimes actively) protecting the warped rights of negligent employers over people who are looking for what we all want, a better life for themselves and their families, this state of affairs is not going anywhere.
“I am at a loss as to how something as simple as an employer failing to register an employee with Jobsplus can cause such chaos,” said Graham.
“Lives can be destroyed through an almost insignificant ‘error’, but mainly due to government entities not speaking to each other,” she continued, before pre-emptively responding to an excuse which has been cited to her several times:
“And no, this is not a GDPR issue, as all entities are involved in the issuance of a work permit.”
Corazon, and her newborn child, are very much not yet out of the woods. The outstanding balance owed to the hospital is continually rising.
“She’s faced with a bill of over €3000 which will rise for every day the baby is in hospital, reportedly at a €1000 a day – and she is in bits.”
Though the generosity of donors – organised through Graham and the EU Nationals and Malta Residents Advisory Group – has helped Corazon cover bills in the past, that solution was treating an important, but lone symptom.
What Malta needs, if it actually wants to protect people fairly, is a cure to systemic disease.
“This time the bill is not being paid. I can’t keep asking people for money, because if I do that, nothing will ever get fixed,” concluded Graham.
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