2017.04.26
Donations pour in for premature Taiwanese baby
When a 20-year-old Taiwanese woman, 7 months pregnant, came on a tour to Okinawa, she definitely did not imagine that her baby wanted to come to see this beautiful island, too.
However, that caused a problem for the mother. Childbirth is generally not covered by overseas medical insurance, and the mother has to cover all the entire cost by herself.
Faced with a hefty bill that she could not afford to pay, she turned to Okinawa Overseas Chinese Association who called for donations. The response was immediate, and within a few days the donations amounted to nearly ¥12 million that is more than enough to cover the medical and hospital costs of the birth and hospitalization, which came to about ¥6 million
On the same day the news was broadcast, there was a donation of ¥5 million from a man in Tokyo, and another one of ¥1 million from a man in Okinawa. On Apr. 21st, the Osaka University Association Okinawa Branch donated ¥100,000.
According to the Okinawa Overseas Chinese Association, there have been nearly 200 donations from in and outside of Okinawa, Taiwan, and other foreign countries.
The Association has entrusted the surplus money of the donations to Okinawa Prefecture, proposing to use it to cover medical expenses of foreign visitors who are not covered by an insurance, and also to cover costs of translators at hospitals.
Oh yeah, the baby was a boy who will stay at Nanbu Children’s Medical Center through May 17.