Ethics Newsline®

Special to Newsline from Canadian correspondent Errol P. Mendes

OTTAWA
Bunny Svay, a Cambodian man residing in Ottawa, was astonished to learn that he will have to pay a huge hospital bill for his medical care after a fire destroyed his apartment, killing five members of his family.

The nearly $18,000 hospital bill will not be covered by Canada’s much vaunted universally accessible and free medical health system because Mr. Svay was not a Canadian citizen at the time of the fire and hospitalization.

Friends of Mr. Svay are contemplating calling on the Cambodian and Chinese communities in Ottawa to help with fundraising for the hospital bill.

The Ottawa Hospital that is demanding the payment has asked Mr. Svay to “explore options as to how to pay the bill.”