A group of 73 Indian healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses and paramedics, finally flew back to the UAE on July 7 from India. With a special permit from the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), 73 out of a total of 250 medical professionals were stuck in India due to the international travel ban imposed by some nations due to the onslaught of Coronavirus in the country.
“The team has all the necessary approvals from the foreign ministry,” CEO of Aster Hospital and Clinics, UAE, Dr Sherbaz Bichu was quoted as stating. “Our healthcare professionals have travelled from different regions of India, including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Hyderabad and Madhya Pradesh, on Wednesday for their international flight departing from India to the UAE.”
“We express our heartfelt gratitude to Dubai Government, Dubai Health Authority, Dubai Airport Authority and Emirates Airlines for all the support extended to Aster in making this arrangement possible for us,” he added. “It was clinical for our staff to come back and fill the gaps across the network of hospitals in Dubai during this pandemic.”
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Split into two groups and flown on two special Emirates flights, this was the first batch of healthcare workers from India, who are employed across several departments of Aster Hospital and Clinics network in UAE to fly back to the emirates.
Wherein most of the existing healthcare professionals were at home on emergency leave due to the enforced Covid-19-related travel ban, some new hires were also absent. They are medical professionals from India who have experience in intensive care units (ICU) and expertise to treat patients infected with Covid-19, a statement by Aster group.
An existing UAE resident, Dr Abdul Majeed, a pediatrics and neonatology specialist at Aster Hospital Mankhool for the past four years, who had to head back to India two months ago was one among the 73 medics boarding the special flights that landed at the Dubai International Airport in the early hours of July 7. He had gone to India when he came to know that his brother was critically ill due to the Covid-19 and got stuck over there.
“I am glad to be back, first because the Covid situation is much more controlled here in the UAE, my second home, and I feel more confident about my safety here,” said Dr Majeed. “Secondly, I am happy that now I will be able to perform my duties better as this is the time, we frontline workers are needed the most.”
