Indian nurses stranded in Saudi Arabia
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Three Indian nurses have been allegedly stranded in Saudi Arabia after the new owner of a medical institute closed down the institution without giving them any prior notice. He also turned down requests to extend validity of their Saudi ID papers.
Saramma Varghese (44), Subhadra Omanakuttan (43) and Sreelatha Vasudevan Nair (44) were employees with the Al Hadi Polyclinic, Riyad, under the sponsorship of one Obtaidullah Al Shereef. However, the latter died in early 2009 and the clinic was taken over by his son Faisal Shereef, who then gave it on lease for two years to another Saudi Fahad Samri, Pleasce India, a Pravasi legal aid cell, said in its petition to the Indian Embassy, Riyad.
“We are not aware of the nature of agreement, as we were not consulted. After running the clinic for nine months, Fahad Samri suddenly closed it on January 3, 2010 without any prior notice to any of the employees. We were left jobless since then. The validity of our Saudi IDs soon expired and our requests for valid ‘iqama’ were not entertained by the sponsor,” the victims were quoted as saying.
The trio then approached a Saudi labour court which instructed the new owner to pay a compensation of Riyal 73,600 against lost wages and directed immediate return of all professional licenses, educational certificates and ID documents.
“However, Samri filed an appeal and the new Judge asked us to sign on an Arabic understanding which we initially refused, but, did the same on the advice of Indian Embassy’s translator. We are then told that our application and the earlier judgment is overturned and the case is closed. We demanded a copy of the judgment, but asked to come again with a Saudi lawyer and put in writing what our demands are,” they said in the statement.
Meanwhile, NORKA Chief Executive Officer Noyel Thomas said it would take up the case and try to help the victims on receiving individual complaints from them.
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