As COVID-19 ravages India, NRIs in Gulf feel helpless

Jeddah: The NRI community living in the Gulf region is concerned about the health and safety for their loved ones back home as Covid-19 rages on in India. Many of them are glued to their phones and awaiting news about their loved ones. Heartbreaking stories are coming in from India as the second wave of […]

Jeddah: The NRI community living in the Gulf region is concerned about the health and safety for their loved ones back home as Covid-19 rages on in India. Many of them are glued to their phones and awaiting news about their loved ones.

Heartbreaking stories are coming in from India as the second wave of Covid wreaks havoc across the country. NRIs in the gulf region are feeling helpless as coronavirus cases and deaths surge back home.

Many NRIs are from North Telangana districts that are in close proximity to Maharashtra, which is one of the worst hit States.

In some cases, most of male members of the families work in the Gulf and there is none to take care of the family in case of emergency. In many cases, NRIs are struggling hard to provide net cash required for hospital bills.

“I get tense and worried whenever there is a post in Whatsapp group as I regularly receive news of casualties of friends and relatives,” said Burhanuddin Ezdani who works in multinational beverage company in Madinah in Saudi Arabia.

The 42-year-old resident of Malakpet in Hyderabad said the situation is worrisome as he often receives messages of casualties among friends and relatives.

The situation of Najmuddin Shakeer, a native of Jagtial who works for a leading telecommunication company, exemplifies the agony of grieving families.

Of the three siblings, two are working in the Gulf, and the third is in India and looking after their ill mother. The mother and son duo were infected and both were admitted in the same hospital.

Their mother succumbed to the virus and brother was being treated in hospital.

Due to travel restrictions, the brothers are not even in a position to catch a last glimpse of their mother.

“I have lost two members of my family to Covid back home within a short span,” said Mohammed Junaid, who hails from Santoshnagar in Hyderabad and works in IT support in the travel industry sector in Jeddah.

“We are concerned and worried about the situation back home in India” opined Bokka Vara Prasad, an IT professional working in Riyadh, who lost a close relative to the virus.

“I simply hesitate to travel back home due to the surge in infection,” said S. Adi Reddy, resident of Ashoknagar in Hyderabad and works in Buraidah in Saudi Arabia.

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