A father whose world "flipped upside down" with the extremely premature birth of his first son in Singapore is now facing a six-figure medical bill.

Originally from Oulton, Brendan Moran moved to the south east Asian city-state a decade ago and welcomed baby Ciaran with his partner Ge Qi last month - three months prematurely, after just 26 weeks and three days.

With Ciaran expected to remain in hospital until at least his original due date of April 28, the couple are braced to pay an estimated medical bill of up to S$350,000 - almost £200,000.

Mr Moran, who works for a not-for-profit organisation, said: "Ciaran is doing well. He he was first born he was weighing just over 1kg, and they lose a lot of that weight straight away, but he is now back at his birth weight which is great.

"We thought we were quite well prepared and we had maternity insurance just in case.

"You read all these horror stories that you think are put out by insurance companies to sell policies, not thinking it will happen to you, but we wanted to err on the side of caution."

The couple's insurance, however, does not cover the full cost of the bill.

Mr Moran, 32, said: "The due date wasn't until April 28 so he is basically guaranteed to be in intensive care until then.

"Our target is to have him home before May. My birthday is May 1 so that would be the best birthday present ever if we can have him home before then.

"It is all about how he develops over the next few months.

"About four hours after his birth they managed to pull out the breathing support which was fantastic as a lot of the chronic conditions with premature babies relate to the lungs as they're not fully developed, but luckily he has been breathing mostly unassisted."

As neither Mr Moran or his Chinese partner Ge Qi were not born in Singapore, they must pay for the healthcare provided.

After covering Ge Qi's medical bills from the couple's savings, they began fundraising online, and have raised more than £50,000 already.

Mr Moran said: "In Singapore, although it is one of the best countries in the world for healthcare, if you're not a Singaporean, boy do you pay for it.

"We are paying about £600 a day and we will be paying that for about three months.

"The moment alarm bells started ringing for me was when I got summoned to this desk and they outlined the fees.

"They told me if she gave birth now this would be the ICU cost and at that point your world flips upside down because you're asked to sign these documents but you don't have a quarter of a million pounds in your bank account.

"It was a big shock but after that it was about keeping my partner and Ciaran healthy in the ward.

"When he was born it was just indescribable. There was such an immense feeling of pride, but it was quite scary when it was happening.

"We have been so overwhelmed by the support we have seen from people all around the world. We've had people donate from Australia, UK and China.

"It has been insane but we still have some way to go."

To donate, go to: https://give.asia/campaign/help-extremely-premature-baby-ciaran.