Bahrain treatment maid dies in Philippines
By EUNICE del ROSARIO
Published: 2nd September 2006
A BEIRUT-BASED Filipina housemaid, who received a month-long treatment at the Psychiatric Hospital after collapsing at the Bahrain International Airport, has died in the Philippines.
But more than two weeks since passing away on August 15 in a hospital in Makati City, there are still conflicting reports in the Philippines about Shirley Balajadia’s death. Several television and newspaper reports say that Ms Balajadia, aged 30, died as a result of the air and artillery strikes by Israel in Lebanon.
Bahrain treatment maid dies in Philippines
By EUNICE del ROSARIO
Published: 2nd September 2006
A BEIRUT-BASED Filipina housemaid, who received a month-long treatment at the Psychiatric Hospital after collapsing at the Bahrain International Airport, has died in the Philippines.
But more than two weeks since passing away on August 15 in a hospital in Makati City, there are still conflicting reports in the Philippines about Shirley Balajadia’s death. Several television and newspaper reports say that Ms Balajadia, aged 30, died as a result of the air and artillery strikes by Israel in Lebanon.
However, Philippine Embassy officials in Bahrain said this was not true, as the maid flew into Bahrain from Beirut on July 10 – two days before hostilities between Israel and Hizbollah broke out.
Mrs Balajadia collapsed inside the airport in Muharraq as she waited to board her connecting flight to Manila.
Airport officials immediately called an ambulance and the woman was taken to the Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC), where she was diagnosed as showing signs of dementia.
The woman was then transferred to the Psychiatric Hospital for further treatment and doctors deemed her fit enough to travel on August 10.
“Mrs Balajadia, as we were told by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in Manila, died due to health complications,” said embassy welfare officer Venus Bravo.
“Her death was not war related.
“In fact, she received treatment at the Psychiatric Hospital and she had improved significantly during her stay in Bahrain.
“She was able to walk and talk, but was told she needed to continue her treatment in the Philippines.”
According to hospital records, Mrs Balajadia died of renal failure secondary to hyperthyroidism.
“Upon her arrival in the Philippines on August 11, OWWA doctors evaluated her condition and referred her to the National Centre for Mental Health but her family chose to take her home,” said Mrs Bravo. On August 14, her family brought her to the Makati City hospital after they said she experienced shortness of breath.
She died the next day.
Mrs Balajadia leaves a husband and two children, aged five and eight.
© Gulf Daily News
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