Scooter crash victim cannot leave Thailand until he has paid £60,000 in medical bills
Tuesday 2nd March 2010, 2:29PM GMT.
MORE than £40,000 has now been raised and spent on the treatment of a Guernseyman seriously injured in a scooter crash in Thailand.
Darren El Mettouri (pictured) suffered a broken spine, punctured lung and a fractured elbow when his bike went off the road in Koh Samui last month.
His brother Gareth is in Thailand with Darren and said his condition had improved.
‘Darren has taken his first steps since the spine operation but he’s still in a lot of pain and does need assistance when standing up at the moment.’
The 27-year-old did not have insurance so family and friends here have been raising money to pay for his treatment. Medics have told Gareth that treatment bills will reach £60,000.
‘The doctors feel Darren will be able to return home in around two weeks if his condition continues to improve as it has.’
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i feel sorry for the bloke…but where was his insurance? you see adverts for this type of thing on tv all the time. let this be a lesson for any of you trying to save a few pounds when you book your next trip of the island.
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Always always get travel insurance! I hope this story teaches people a lesson. Good to hear that he’s recovering and was able to raise most of the money for the doctors bills.
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Ok, lets give the insurance line a break its been thrashed out enough through the other news articles.
I’m so pleased Darren is improving and well done to everyone whos donated money, thats an impressive amount raised so far.
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£60,000? That’s a large amount of money. I would love to know the breakdown of it. I’m from Guernsey but living in Thailand and have heard of so many incidents like this and feel sorry for Darren.
Many of the private American hospitals over here do charge around 5,000 Baht ( £100 ) a day and treatments around £40 an hour and that’s cheap for the high quality health care you get. I do hope that he’s not getting taken for a ride here.
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