Kerala Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take immediate steps to help hundreds of Indian health workers stranded there due to the closure of the Iranian hospital in Dubai. He said this especially for the nurses of Kerala. Expressing the problem regarding this, he said that due to increasing tension in the Middle East, Irani Hospital in Dubai has been closed. Many Indian nurses and health workers working there are now feeling uneasy about their safety. Many families are also trapped in financial and mental crisis.
‘Talk to Indian Embassy, UAE’
CM Satheesan said that this is a humanitarian issue of Indians living abroad. The Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Embassy in UAE should talk to the UAE government. These nurses and health workers were serving in UAE for many years. He did very good work during Covid-19. The letter from the CM has been written after the information given by the nurses and healthcare workers of Keralam, who have expressed the fear of losing not only their jobs but also their legal residency status in UAE.
Despite working in Dubai’s healthcare sector for years, he is facing difficulties in getting a new employment visa or getting his existing visa transferred after the closure of hospitals in Iran. Many healthcare workers have also alleged that due to restrictions related to hospital closure, they are facing difficulty in getting dependent visas and visit visas for family members.
‘Threat to future opportunities in health sector’
Many healthcare professionals also expressed concern that prolonged unemployment could impact their professional licenses and future opportunities in the healthcare sector in the Gulf countries. Because of this, there has been a lot of concern among the Malayali families settled in UAE for years. Many nurses said their children are studying in schools in Dubai and other emirates, while families are also managing household expenses, loans and other financial responsibilities associated with long-term jobs in Gulf countries.
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