Medical debt traps Russian woman in coma in South Korea

Moscow resident Tatyana Konovalova cannot return to Russia from South Korea due to debt for treatment at a local hospital. The woman suffered a stroke during her trip. As a result, she was billed more than 55,000 dollars (4,194,850 rubles) for medical services, according to her daughter Yevgenia.

According to Yevgenia, in December 2025, she along with her son, her 77-year-old mother Tatyana, and a dog went on a trip to South Korea.

‘During the trip in South Korea, my mother suddenly had a hemorrhagic stroke. On January 21, she was urgently taken to Pusan National University Hospital. After hospitalization, the bleeding continued, her condition rapidly worsened, and doctors decided on an emergency surgery to save her life,’ Yevgenia told RIA Novosti.

As Yevgenia explained, Tatyana did not have travel insurance. One insurance company refused the pensioner due to age, and Yevgenia did not have time to apply to another due to being very busy.

Yevgenia noted that after the surgery, Tatyana was in an induced coma, from which doctors are gradually bringing her out. Tatyana has already started breathing on her own, but her condition remains stably serious. The treating doctors believe that the patient needs to be transported to Russia and have provided a medical conclusion that she is transportable.

However, the obstacle to transporting Tatyana to Russia is a large debt to the Korean clinic of more than 55,000 dollars. Moreover, this amount continues to increase, as each new day in intensive care without insurance costs about 7,000 dollars. According to Yevgenia, because the issue of payment for medical services is still unresolved, the Russian Ministry of Health cannot file a request for Tatyana«s evacuation.