A Melbourne-based traveller who suffered a stroke while holidaying in Bali is facing a $6000 bill over a technicality on her travel insurance.
Ingrid Zubaydullaeva, a 59 year-old traveller who went to Ubud for a relaxing time at a wellness retreat was about to experience anything but that. A day after arriving, Zubaydullaeva suffered a haemorrhagic stroke caused by a ruptured blood vessel that created bleeding in the brain.
“When she was standing under a waterfall, she started to feel like something was not right,” Zubaydullaeva’s friend Liz Brine told Yahoo News Australia. “A minute later she thought she was going to die.”
Her right side became paralysed and she fell into the water.
“The right side of her face was drooping, her speech was very slurred and then all the chaos started with trying to get an ambulance,” Brine said. She went on to say that it took five hours to get Zubaydullaeva to hospital due to poor reception from the location making it hard to reach paramedics.
Zubaydullaeva is still being treated in hospital, but she has been presented with a bill of more than $6000 which her travel insurance provider, Commonwealth Bank Australia, won’t cover.
“Before her trip she asked her GP if she needs to provide anything to her insurance company about her hypertension,” Brine said. “But the GP advised it was well-managed and not significant, and that she is fit for travel. There were no signs that something like this would happen.
“So it was not declared and the claim was denied based on the fact she had a pre-existing condition.”
Brine has since started a GoFundMe to help Zubaydullaeva pay her hospital bills, accommodation and physiotherapy.
“It’s been a very stressful time for her,” she said. “I just want her to be able to focus on her recovery rather than worrying about how she’s going to pay for all these expenses.”
Zubaydullaeva still struggles with speech and mobility, but she is making progress.
(Featured Image: Tourists strolling along the central street of Ubud – iStock/Andrey Danilovich)
