Lisa Gatt (left) with her sister LiaTimes of Malta
Saturday, 11th April 2009
Cynthia Busuttil
The family of a 25-year-old woman are desperately trying to bring her back to Malta for treatment after she was badly injured in a traffic accident in Cambodia.
Lisa Gatt, a call centre worker from Marsascala, was riding pillion on a motorcycle last Tuesday when the accident happened.
"When she called home after the accident she said she had heard a loud noise and then everything went black," her sister, Lia, said.
Unconscious, the young woman was taken to a nearby clinic where she woke up some hours later in extreme pain.
"Her femur (thigh) bone is broken and one of her hands is so swollen that she can barely see her fingers," the distraught sister said.
The victim, who turns 26 in June, left for Cambodia in November to join a friend who was trekking in the South Asian country but the two later went their separate ways.
Having travelled without taking out an insurance policy, the young woman is now facing hefty medical bills. Surgery to pin her thigh bone back in place came with a €2,000 price tag, which her family had to borrow and wire over to her.
"She is in a small clinic in a rural village and we wanted to fly her to a military hospital in Bangkok. But just the helicopter ride would have cost €15,000 and another €10,000 for the surgery," her sister said.
The family is now appealing for help to fly the young woman back to Malta.
Writing on a Facebook page created specially to raise money to bring the young woman home, Lia Gatt wrote that her sister was in high spirits following the operation even though she was awake during the whole procedure.
"She saw everything that was happening to her, miskina (poor girl) and she also felt the pulls and tugs on her leg and could feel them drilling and banging on her bone. She tried to call out to tell them that she was still awake but was unable to make a sound," she wrote, adding that this probably meant the anaesthetic had not worked.
The young woman is still in severe pain, with her sister saying she "screams in agony" when they speak to her over the phone.
"We need to get her to Malta and admit her to hospital here to make sure she gets the proper treatment and avoid infections," she said.
But the young woman will need to be transported on a stretcher since she cannot move her leg, pushing up the price for a plane ticket.
"She has no control over her leg and will have to travel on a stretcher. We are in contact with airlines to try and find a way of getting her back to Malta," Lia Gatt said.
The girls' father is expected to travel to Cambodia as soon as arrangements are made to be with his daughter and help bring her home.
The family has asked for help from the Foreign Affairs Ministry, which, since Malta does not have an embassy in Cambodia, has asked for the British authorities' assistance. Lia Gatt said the British Embassy had sent someone to check on her sister.
"Lisa did not get travel insurance before she left. She left in a hurry and was unaware of the dangers. She made a mistake as many others do and let this be a lesson to everyone. Let's raise the awareness so it does not happen again," her sister wrote.
Lia Gatt can be contacted on liagatt@hotmail.com.
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