Daijiworld Media Network – Kuwait

Kuwait, Sep 18: Sixty people, including 30 Indians, were arrested for working in violation of the residency rules during the inspection by the Kuwait Manpower Committee. Among them, 19 Keralite nurses too are arrested after the raid on a private clinic at Maliya here.

The nurses did not have relevant licences or required qualifications to work in Kuwait, said Kuwait home ministry. However, the relatives say that all the arrested Malayali nurses were working legally in the institution. All have a valid visa and institutional sponsorship. Many have been working in the same hospital for 3 to 10 years. Apart from India, people from the Philippines, Egypt and Iran were caught. The hospital is owned by an Iranian national and according to the relatives of the nurses, a dispute between the owner and the sponsor had led to the raid and arrest, it is said.

Representational image

Unfortunately, among the arrested nurses five are feeding mothers. Jessin was arrested the day she returned to work after her maternity leave. Bijoy, Jessin and their two daughters live in a flat in Jollibee. After the intervention of the Indian Embassy in Kuwait and the union minister V Muralidharan, an opportunity was provided for the babies to breastfeed in the jail. The relatives including Bijoy have demanded that the Indian Embassy and the central government should immediately intervene and take steps to release the nurses.