The father of popular singer Touch Srey Nich, who was shot three times by unknown attackers in October, is struggling to raise money after the government stopped paying the singer’s medical bills, a family member said Wednesday.
Touch Srey Nich’s cousin, Sok Neath, said the singer’s father, Sieng Touch, is trying to sell the family’s car to help pay the more than $1,000 a day required for her treatment at a Bangkok hospital.
Earlier this month, he said, Sieng Touch returned to Cambodia from Thailand in a failed mission to find a hospital here where she could be transferred, since the family cannot afford her treatment in Bangkok. However, he said, Cambodian hospitals could not give her adequate care.
Touch Srey Nich, 24, was airlifted to Bangkok after she was shot twice in the face and once in the neck in Phnom Penh Oct 21. Her mother, Kim Sinoun, 59, was also shot in the attack and died in Calmette hospital hours later.
According to government officials who have visited Touch Srey Nich, she is paralyzed from the neck down and is battling septicemia, a blood infection.
After initially promising to pay the singer’s hospital bills, the government stopped payment, Council of Ministers spokesman Khieu Thavika told Voice of America radio earlier this month.
He told VOA her medical bills between October and January had climbed to $70,000 and that the government would pay for only two and a half months of her treatment. Her family would have to pay the rest, he said. Khieu Thavika could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The singer’s family had little hope of her survival, Sok Neath said. “She is still in critical condition and there is only 1 percent hope that she will survive,” he said. “The government promised that they wouldn’t abandon her, but what about now?”
He added the family continues to fear for their safety, while the assailants remain at large.
