Jeddah: The Hyderabadi community is known for conducting extravaganza cultural and literal events abroad yet it remains silent when it comes to extending help to humanitarian causes.
An optimistic bed ridden Mohammed Shafiquddin desperately looking for his compatriots to bail him out.
54-years-old native of Secunderabad did not even remotely think that his life would change forever during the lockdown following the pandemic.
The pandemic made a giant distraction to livelihoods besides crippling social and economic systems. It has drastically changed the lives of some expatriates in Gulf countries and Shafiquddin among those unfortunate ones.
He was working in Ahsa town in Saudi Arabia for a long time. He was operating a laundry and also working as a private car driver. When corona raged the world, it didn’t spare him. During the lockdown the car kept idle but rent had surged and he failed to pay, defaulted. So, the same case with the laundry which remained nonfunctional yet the lease due amount unsettled.
Leave alone paying rents, penniless Shafiq not even having any money to feed himself who is a chronic patient or buy essential medicine.
Since he failed to pay the due amount, he was dragged to court that ordered him to settle the payment and slapped a travel ban.
The corona didn’t confine to him only, it crippled his family too back home as they also started to face financial difficulties.
Meanwhile, his Iqama expired and he became an illegal resident in Saudi Arabia.
Shafiq’s dream failed to take off, causing his health to take a turn for the worse as he failed to take medicine. He is out of ambit of medical insurance following expiry of Iqama that hit his medical care and his health condition deteriorated.
Alongside battered with many difficulties, he now suffers from paralysis secondary to his long-standing hypertension, Type 2 diabetes mellitus and neurology aliment.
In bid to reach home India, Shafiq had reached the Indian Embassy in state of paralysis, embassy staff shifted him to a polyclinic from where he was moved into a private facility after some time on temporary basis.
Since he is unable to move on his own, nursing care is being provided by the Indian embassy. A nurse visits him daily to check his condition and change diapers.
Indian Community workers Shihab Kottukad, Muzammil (0556473503) and Mohammed Abul Jabbar (0502345839) have been tirelessly working to aid the bedridden destitute worker to settle his amount in the court and repatriate home.
“There was no room to negotiate, as it was a court order and must comply by paying the due amount”, said an official.
Short of breath, loss of vocal pitch, Shafiq appeals to the community in a choking voice with tears in eyes to support him to reach home where want to die.
It’s noteworthy to mention that recently a NRI hailing from Uttar Pradesh has died in Saudi Arabia in similar circumstances.
