The wife of Tuol Sleng survivor Vann Nath plans to bring her husband home from hospital amid mounting medical costs, after doctors reportedly reaffirmed that he was unlikely to survive since slipping into a coma late last month.

Vann Nath’s wife, Kith Eng, said yesterday that municipal governor Kep Chuktema had donated US$1,000 towards her husband’s medical expenses and others had contributed over $1,000 since he was admitted to hospital on August 26.

“Doctors said again that there is no hope,” she said. “I told my family that I would send him back home, but I will continue to keep him on oxygen and inject him with medicine. Taking him home will reduce some expenses, but I waited for a decision from doctors before deciding what to do.”

Vann Nath is one of only three known living survivors of the Khmer Rouge’s interrogation centre S21, where he was imprisoned and forced to paint portraits of the regime’s leaders. After they were driven from power he painted scenes of the horrors that occurred inside S21, which has since been turned into a genocide museum.