Four Indian doctors claimed that they are forced to stay in the Ebola-hit country
The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak in West Africa an international emergency, killing more than 900 people and spreading. (Photo: AP)
New Delhi: India has asked the Nigerian branch of an Indian hospital to return the passport of four Indian doctors who claim to have been forced to stay on in the Ebola-hit country against their wishes.
Making it clear that this is not a diplomatic issue, the Ministry of External Affairs said the hospital is Indian-owned, Indian-established and Indian-run.
"The doctors are Indians. As of this time, this is not a diplomatic issue of any sort between India and Nigeria," the spokesperson of the Ministry told reporters here on Wednesday.
The issue revolves around the Primus Hospital in Nigerian capital Abuja and four doctors who want to return home for fear of contracting the deadly Ebola virus.
"It is true that there is no law which permits a hospital to keep passports of Indian nationals with them. So we have taken it up with hospital concerned and asked them to hand over the passport to Indian doctors because this is not permissible under Indian law nor permissible under local law," the official said.
He said that as of now there has not been any case of Ebola in Abuja.
"The nearest known case is in Lagos which is several hundred kilometres away. Neither the Indian High Commission in Abuja nor our camp office in Lagos has issued any advisory for Indians to leave those places," he added.
However, the official noted that it is an individual's choice to leave his/her job that he/she is working on and it happens in situations of stress.
"These doctors have been in touch with the High Commission on a regular basis. They also met our High Commissioner couple of days ago," he said adding the doctors desire to leave.
The spokesperson said the hospital is of the view that they have not been asked to address any case of Ebola because it is not designated to handle such cases.
"What they are handling are cases, some in the ICU. The hospital's view is that should they (doctors) leave these cases unattended, they may have to face consequences of legal nature from the patients because the hospital feels that these were the doctors who were handling those cases," he said. On the other hand, the doctors feel that their safety, their health is in jeopardy.
The spokesperson said the High Commission of India is trying to work with both the parties to find a way out of this situation.
"We hope that we can find an amicable solution between these two viewpoints and we are working on that. Obviously, this requires some time..."We continue to remain engaged. We will work both the hospital and doctors concerned, he said.
( Source : PTI )
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