By SINGAPORE — Saripah, a 29-year-old Indonesian domestic worker, arrived in Singapore last year to work for Ms Nadiah Arinah’s family in December last year.
Ever since she arrived in Singapore in December of last year to work for Ms Nadiah’s family, Saripah has been a diligent and supportive member of the household, earning the affection of her employers.
On 5 March this year, Saripah complained of a headache, and her employer advised her to rest for the night and sleep it off. However, half an hour later, Ms Nadiah was shocked to find Saripah lying unconscious on the kitchen floor.
Diagnosed with brain aneurysm
An ambulance was immediately called, and Saripah was rushed to Singapore General Hospital, where a CT scan revealed that she was bleeding in her brain due to a brain aneurysm.
A brain aneurysm is a bulging or ballooning in the wall of an artery in the brain that can be fatal or cause lasting brain damage.
The domestic worker underwent surgery in the early morning of 6 March to remove the blood clots in her head, but she only woke up four days after the surgery and was only able to be taken off the ventilator two weeks later, on 27 March.
She was supporting her family in Indonesia—including two young children—on the salary she makes here.
Unfortunately, her illness not only nearly cost her life, but the medical treatment here could also cost her tens of thousands of bills that would burden her financially, as she is not entitled to any subsidy here as a foreign worker.
“She is going to have to go through a long rehabilitation (process),” Ms Nadiah, a 28-year-old social media moderator, had told local media TODAY last month.
Ms Nadiah added that Ms Saripah was also unable to form sentences or recognise people at that time properly, and the left side of her body was unable to move due to the damage to the right side of her brain.
Even though Ms Nadiah’s family tried to supplement insurance payouts by paying out of pocket, they can barely afford most of her medical bills.
Her total medical expenses are projected to be S$150,000. Her medical insurance will only pay up to S$15,000 of hospitalisation per year and S$10,000 for repartition.
Believing that Saripah deserves the best chance of a full recovery, Ms Nadiah’s family launched a crowdfunding campaign on GoGetFunding, with the goal of raising at least S$150,000 to cover all of her medical bills and other expenses.
This amount also includes her estimated repatriation cost of $18,000.
Crowdfunding raised more than S$160,000
On 3 April, Ms Nadiah provided an update on the crowdfunding campaign, noting that Saripah has been given the green light to be given solid food and she could recognise people.
At that time, the medical bill had already reached over S$70,000, and they were coordinating with airlines to transport her back to Indonesia.
On 8 April, Ms Nadiah made a cheerful announcement that they had met their goal: They raised S$164,830.89 in total, in which nearly S$80,000 was raised from offline donations and called off the crowdfunding.
They had also arranged a flight for Saripah to return home, and she flew back to Indonesia on the same day.
Ms Nadiah shared that a portion of the funds had already been used to cover half of Saripah’s hospitalization bill in Singapore, repatriation fees, and ambulance services from the Jakarta airport to the hospital, where she will continue to receive medical care.
“We will continue to use the funds to pay for her medical bills both here in SG and ID where needed, and any excess amount will be given to Saripah.”
Ms Nadiah expressed her happiness that Saripah had finally reunited with her husband and family, and thanked everyone who had contributed to the crowdfunding campaign.
