Russian couple bringing new-born back from Turkey

A Russian mother who was forced to leave her new-born baby in Turkey has re-united with her son. Yulia Korsakova gave birth prematurely while on holiday with her husband at the Turkish resort of Antalya, but they were unable to pay medical costs.

Yulia was warned by a doctor before their trip not to fly while pregnant, but decided to go anyway.

“When they took me to hospital I was semi-conscious. I could hardly understand anything in the state that I was in. I only remember lying on an operating table. I came back to my senses only in a ward. I understood that I had undergone a Caesarean operation,” Yulia recalls.  

But then, the couple was faced with a $US 1,500 a day hospital bill which they couldn't pay.

The Russian consulate in Antalya contacted the couple’s travel agent and their insurance company. And after a round of negotiations, the tourist agency agreed to pay some of the expenses for the new-born, but by that time, the parents had already left the country at the end of their package holiday.  

“In the last twelve years, this is the first time this sort of thing has happened and we've decided to help the baby – as a gesture of good will,” Svetlana Shwab, the insurance company representative, says.   

Back home, the new parents had to rely on diplomatic pressure from the consulate to get the insurance company to agree to cover the hospital and transport expenses.  

“The child is still under medical observation at the hospital. We visited the newborn and talked to the doctor who is treating him. The child is gaining weight and his condition is stable. The doctors say that the baby will be ready to travel to Russia on Monday or Tuesday. The child’s mother can visit us at the consulate and we will issue a birth certificate and add the child to her passport for the trip to Russia,” Sergey Koritsky, Vice-Consul in Antalya, commented.

With most of the bills covered, and the consulate ready to speed through the paperwork, the young couple will now have all chances to bring their 'surprise holiday souvenir' back home to Russia.

Russian Ministry of Emergency’s special plane with doctors and the necessary equipment will reportedly arrive in Turkey on Tuesday to move the newborn from Antalya to Moscow.

On Monday Yulia Korsakova is going to the Russian consulate in Turkey to prepare all papers needed for the child’s transportation.