Paralysed Indian worker to be flown back home after accident in UAE

Ras Al Khaimah - He arrived at RAK airport on May 7 and was involved in an accident 5 days later.

Gurmej Singh was dreaming about making some money to support his family when he reached the UAE one month ago on a visit visa and took up job as a mason in Ras Al Khaimah.
However, the 54-year-old worker from India's Punjab state will return home on Saturday with all his dreams shattered.
Singh thought he was lucky to get a free visa from a friend to work with a contracting company here, but an accident that occurred just a few days after his arrival has left him completely paralysed.
The minivan he was travelling in along with fellow workers had a terrible accident.
"I arrived at the RAK airport on May 7, following which I was taken to the company labour accommodation; I started working the next day," Singh told Khaleej Times.
Just five days later, on May 12, the company vehicle was involved in an accident, he added.
"All my fellow workers sustained injuries and we were rushed to the Saqr Hospital. However, the impact of the accident left me totally paralysed."
As per a medical report issued by the hospital, the patient was diagnosed with tetraplegia and traumatic cervical spine contusion with severe edema. "He cannot move his leg completely and can slightly move his arm, with sensory level around C6 derma tone and areflexia," said Dr Ibrahim Mohammed, head of the neurology department at the hospital.
Alerted about the patient, Prasad Sreedharan, a social worker affiliated with a medical committee rec-ently constituted by the Consulate General of India (CGI) in Dubai, visited him in hospital. "He is fully conscious, well-oriented and speaks well, but has no relatives in the UAE to support him."
Sreedharan took up Singh's case with the consulate, which swung into action and immediately issued a stretcher ticket for the patient from Dubai to Delhi, and then to Singh's hometown of Amritsar. "The consulate has also issued a return ticket for a non-medical escort, to accompany Singh back home.
"I approached a legal firm and they agreed to take up this case and plead for compensation," said Sreedharan, noting that in many cases, legal assistance is not extended. However, Ali Ibrahim Advocates and Legal Consultants of Sharjah has agreed to take up this particular case and file a compensation case in a RAK court.
According to Salam Pappanassery, advocate assistant at the firm, they will bear all the expenses for the compensation suit.
The owner of the company den-ied knowing the paralysed worker, despite the fact that Singh had started work immediately with his company after arriving in the UAE, and suffered the accident just a few days later, Sreedharan stated. "He said he did not know this worker and did not know how he was inside the company vehicle."
Raising an appeal to the Indian community and workers, Sreedharan said the rules and regulations of the country have to be strictly observed. "This is a clear lesson never to take up employment while on a visit visa. A person like Gurmej Singh, at the age of 54, came to the UAE to support his family: wife, four daughters and a son. But since he took up illegal employment and met with an accident, he has become a liability for the family."
ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE
• Ras Al Khaimah