Brit victim of Mumbai terror attack faces three million pound medical bill

London, Aug.14 (ANI): A Britisher, who was a victim of last year's Mumbai terror attacks, faces the prospect of paying three million pounds in medical expenses.

According to The Telegraph, 29-year-old Will Pike, who suffered a spinal cord injury and is now confined to a wheel chair, after jumping 50 feet from the third floor of the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, says that most policyholders do not hold top-grade cover, including chronic-condition cover.

According to the paper, it seems unlikely that any insurance cover would ever pay three to four million pounds to Pike, a sum he might need to adapt to wheelchair life with help for 50 or so years.

Dr Penny O'Nions of The Onion Group, a specialist healthcare provider, said that after the 7/7 attacks on London, she asked private medical insurers whether their policyholders would have covered any victims.

Western Provident Association was "clear" that it would cover members if they were innocent bystanders at an unforeseeable incident, she said.

"Norwich Union [now Aviva] didn't think they would. Bupa said they would, while Axa PPP said they probably wouldn't." But she emphasised that four years on, and overseas, different criteria could apply.

As Pike was injured abroad he is ineligible for Government aid for terrorism victims. (ANI)