Kochi, May 20 (IANS): A 105-member medical team from here, including 75 new recruits and 30 nurses who were stuck here due to the lockdown, reached Abu Dhabi on Wednesday morning, an official attached to VPS Healthcare who was instrumental in flying them out from here, said.

An initiative of VPS Healthcare, a healthcare group in the UAE, the team will be working in the critical care units in various Covid-19 hospitals across the Emirates. This will further strengthen the efforts of the UAE government in combating the virus.

Of the 105 members, 75 are recruits from here and the rest are employees of VPS Healthcare, who had been in Kerala on vacation and could not return due to the lockdown. All of these team members are extensively trained and experienced in critical care.

VPS Healthcare Director (India) Hafiz Ali Ullat said they are extremely proud to send a medical team to the UAE from Kerala.

"In UAE, we have been working with the government from the beginning. Sending a medical team is a part of our continuous effort in supporting the government there during this pandemic," he said.

Vinod Sebastian, one among the senior nurses in the medical team, said it is a proud moment for each of them.

"It is our duty to serve and treat the patients during this unprecedented crisis. For the majority of the nurses in the medical team, it is their maiden journey to a foreign country. All of them are extensively experienced in critical care. We are very confident and motivated. We are taking it up as a challenge," he said adding that his family has been very supportive and encouraging.

All the members of the medical team underwent a Covid-19 test on Sunday and all of them tested negative.