Look at evacuating pregnant nurses on priority from Saudi: SC to Centre
Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: 09.05.2020
Listening to the cries of 250 nurses and doctors at various stages of pregnancy and complaining of lack of access to healthcare in Saudi Arabia, the Supreme Court on Friday told the Union government to consider bringing them back on priority in its ongoing evacuation of Indians stranded abroad.
Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for the petitioners in various stages of pregnancy, appealed to a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay K Kaul and B R Gavai for their early evacuation citing non-availability of pregnancy-related healthcare in Saudi Arabia because most hospitals had been converted to treat Covid-19 patients.
When solicitor general Tushar Mehta said the SOPs for the evacuation gave priority to bringing back pregnant women and that appropriate steps would be taken with regard to the petitioners, the bench said, “The government shall explore the question of further priority as per the specific cases of petitioners and shall take appropriate steps accordingly.”
The petitioners said they were Indian citizens working as nurses and doctors in various provinces of Saudi Arabia. “All the petitioners are pregnant, in their third trimester, who had been planning to return to India on various dates in the month of March and April for their delivery. However, due to closure of airports in India for flights from abroad, the flights for which they had booked tickets much earlier got cancelled. Because of which all the petitioners are stuck in Saudi Arabia and are living in vulnerable condition which is fatal for both the unborn child and the mother,” they said.
Full report on www.toi.in
A SIGH OF RELIEF: Athira from Kozhikode, who moved the Supreme Court to return from abroad, heads home from Karipur airport on Friday. The lockdown was announced when the IT firm employee was about to leave UAE for delivery
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