Jeddah: An ailing NRI blue-collar worker who has been bedridden for over a year in a hospital in a remote area of Saudi Arabia was finally repatriated to his home in India by the Indian consulate in Jeddah after several legal and financial hassles.
55-year-old Suresh Kumar Krishnaswamy of Tamil Nadu was admitted into a hospital in Asir province following a brain hemorrhage as a result of hypertension 14 months ago, since then he is in a completely vegetative state needing palliative care.
Krishnaswamy was flown to his home in a stretcher seat on board with a medical assistant, Athulya Kunjumon. The Consulate General of India in Jeddah fully supported the financial cost of his repatriation and noted social worker in Abha Ashraf Kuttichal volunteered services to the patient.
Krishnaswamy lost job and his iqama expired, his employer refused to renew it since he was not working with him. After struggling for four years, he found a job and also transferred his Iqama to a new employer. The joy didn’t last for long, he collapsed on the road and an ambulance rushed him to a hospital where he had been lying since then.
The desperate family of Suresh Kumar Krishnaswamy that lives in a remote village near to Katpadi taluka in Vellore district has lost hope to see their sole breadwinner who was in a state of almost unconsciousness for over a year.
The wife and children knocked the door of every known politician and official in Tamil Nadu to bring the ailing patient back home, they knew that it was not an easy task yet they were somehow optimistic and kept trying until finally their plea reached the Indian Consul General Shahid Alam in Jeddah.
The Indian mission extended its help to the patient, stood firmly behind him in remote area.
The young diplomat Shahid Alam not only followed Krishnaswamy’s condition in the Kingdom but also sanctioned a significant amount for stretcher repatriation.
The departure was not smooth, the discharge of the patient was blocked by hospital authorities at the eleventh hour for nonpayment of the bill. He was brought by emergency medical teams and the ministry of health hospital yet he was required to pay the bill, according to sources.
On the weekend when all offices were closed yet Indian consulate sought intervention from the Governor’s office that instructed the hospital to discharge the patient and debit the bill to his employer, said Ashraf.
| Posted by Sameer Khan | 
