A British tourist is in a coma and fighting for his life after collapsing in a hostel in Cambodia, while his family faces £8,000-a-day medical costs.
Ben Wilkins, 32, from Chinley in Derbyshire, was just two weeks into his holiday on the island of Koh Rong when he fell ill.
He was found unconscious in his room last Monday by friends before being rushed to a hospital in Siem Reap and then transferred to the capital Phnom Penh.
Ben’s sister Imogen said he was suffering from “kidney failure and severe pneumonia” and is now in a coma with a ventilator supporting his breathing. He hasn’t woken up for five days.
The family now faces costs of up to £8,000 a day for intensive care in notoriously poor third world hospitals, or air ambulance transport to the UK for up to £200,000.
Imogen, from Manchester, said: “We don’t know how long Ben had been unconscious in his room.
“The ambulance ride which took five and a half hours from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh was to allow him to receive dialysis, because without it he would have died.
“Most of the country does not have treatments such as dialysis.”
British tourist Ben Wilkins is in a coma and fighting for his life after collapsing in a hostel in Cambodia.
Ben’s sister Imogen said he was suffering from “kidney failure and severe pneumonia” and is now in a coma with a ventilator supporting his breathing. He hasn’t woken up for five days
Ben’s family now face bills of £8,000 a day for intensive care in notoriously poor third world hospitals – or for air ambulance transport to the UK for up to 200 000 £.
Ben is pictured with mum Carolyn
Imogen said the previously healthy young man had no underlying health conditions and had not taken out travel insurance as he had previously traveled to the country several times 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 now all flown to Cambodia to be by his side.
Imogen added: “When you’re young you think you’re invincible, so all of this is not only a heartbreaking pressure on us all, but it comes at a huge financial cost to our family.
“That’s £8,000 a day to stay in intensive care, before the costs of ambulances, drugs, procedures, dialysis and tests carried out.”
“We have spent over £60,000, and that amount is growing massively every day.”
In a bid to manage the rising costs of Ben’s care, Imogen and his mother Carolyn launched a Go Fund Me page to appeal for donations.
“Please help us save Ben, anything you can spare to help pay for the medical costs to try and save his life and bring him home would 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 accumulated £36,000 as of Tuesday morning.
Ben Wilkins, 32, from Chinley, Derbyshire, had barely two weeks on holiday on the island of Koh Rong when he fell ill.
In a bid to manage the rising costs of Ben’s care, Imogen and his mother Carolyn launched a Go Fund Me page to appeal for donations.
An update posted to the Go Fund Me page this morning suggested Ben had started to respond to treatment, although he remained in a coma.
“A huge thank you to everyone who donated. We are so impressed 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 on dialysis for his kidney failure and his pneumonia is still serious.
“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 Orient” in the 1950s, but today the country is one of the most underdeveloped in Asia.
It was decimated by US bombing campaigns in the 1970s, followed by the twisted rule of the genocidal Khmer Rouge, backed by neighboring Thailand.
Its infrastructure has never fully recovered and its hospitals are notoriously in poor condition.
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