Thiruvananthapuram: A woman from Alappuzha, who was selected as a staff nurse in Saudi Arabia, had a harrowing time for three days at the Riyadh airport where she was detained due to the oversight of the hospital authorities. K.S. Sreeba, who was working at a private clinic in Alappuzha, had secured a job in the Saudi German Hospital in Riyadh through a selection process conducted by the NORKA-Roots in October 2015. She was issued a visa on August 2 this year, which was valid for 90 days, and her ticket was booked for the late night flight of November 1.
But by the time she landed at Riyadh airport in the early hours of November 2, her visa had expired. Sreeba, who was flying for the first time, that too alone, had the shock of her life when she was stopped by the immigration authorities at the airport and detained. She, however, managed to get in touch with a voluntary organisation associated with NORKA-Roots as well as NORKA-Roots former consultant B. Vivek. They provided her food and also arranged her return flight on November 4.
“It was a harrowing experience to be held up in a different country,” she told DC. NORKA secretary Usha Titus told DC that NORKA-Roots would meet the expenditure for her return journey and also request the hospital authorities to re-issue a visa to her. “I am hopeful of the assurance of NORKA-Roots that they would settle the ticket charges and get me a fresh visa,” Sreeba said. The whole trouble resulted from the delay of the authorities in issuing the tickets to her, it is learnt.
