42-year-old woman dies unexpectedly while on holiday in Europe

When Mah Ching Cheng felt unwell after getting off the plane in Amsterdam, her husband thought that it could be due to her not being used to taking flights in such a long time.

But the 42-year-old slipped into a coma and died in a hospital in Germany seven days later.

In an interview with Shin Min Daily News, Edwin Teo said that the couple, from the banking industry, had spent S$6,000 on a 10-day Europe tour package. It has been more than two years since they had travelled abroad due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Teo, 44, and Mah boarded the plane to Amsterdam on Feb 12 – the first leg of their trip which also included Germany and France.

Speaking to the Chinese news daily, Teo said that after experiencing a headache and sore throat following the flight, his wife took painkillers. She also took an antigen rapid test (ART), which showed that she was Covid-19 negative.

"I thought that it could be because she had not been flying for a long time, and her body was not used to it. Since her symptoms were mild, we went on the tour as usual," Teo added.

When Mah felt a sudden pain in her lower abdomen on day three of the trip, a tour guide took her to a first aid station at the hotel.

The medical staff there measured Mah's blood pressure and gave her painkillers. They also advised her to seek medical attention if the pain worsened.

After arriving in Germany, Mah sought medical advice from two hospitals but was unable to detect the cause of her abdominal pains, which by then had become more painful.

On Feb 18, doctors at a hospital in Frankfurt suspected Mah had a bladder infection. Teo said: "I was unable to accompany my wife due to the pandemic. After she was transferred to the intensive care unit, the doctors said they would need to observe her there."

But at 3am the next day, Teo was woken up in his hotel room by a policeman, who came to inform him that Mah had slipped into a coma and was in critical condition.

Adding that Mah died five hours later, Teo said: "She was fine, but why did it happen?"

Teo lamented that his wife missed out on the 'golden opportunity' to receive the right treatment in time.

Mah had sought medical treatment at least six times in the Netherlands and Germany. That included clinics, hospitals, a hotel emergency station and the airline's medical department.

The couple had also planned to cut short their trip by returning to Singapore on Feb 17. But Mah's condition had already worsened by then.

"If we had made it back to Singapore for my wife to seek treatment on time, the result could have been very different," Teo said.

chingshijie@asiaone.com