RIYADH, 12 December 2004 — For a Filipino nurse to be denied vacation for four straight years is bad enough. It’s doubly bad when she also cannot go home when a loved one dies just because the employer says so. What’s worse is when she herself dies after being made by the employer to work even after she is diagnosed to be seriously ill.

This was exactly what happened to Lailah Lucman, a nurse from Mindanao, who died recently, only three weeks after she was found to be suffering from cancer of the uterus.

Lailah’s sister Rahman says her sister was diagnosed in the same hospital where she was working — the Mubarak Hospital in Riyadh — but she was not told about it. Rahman said they found about the gravity of the disease only when they sought a second opinion from another hospital because Lailah was losing blood immensely.

“My sister’s condition was aggravated when she could not go home to pay her respects to our father who had died in January,” because the management did not allow her to go, Rahman said.

She added that her sister had a three-year contract and that she was into her second contract when she died.

Lailah had been applying for leave but her employer always refused, according to Rahman. She filed a resignation letter so that she could go home to see their mother, who was also sick, but it was also turned down.

Rahmah said that her late sister wanted to be treated at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center (KFSH & RC) and her relatives were able to secure a recommendation for admission. But on the day that she was supposed to be admitted, her employer decided to make an appointment with the hospital first. Her admission was reset the following day, but she died.

“We wanted her to be transferred on the day we got the approval but her employer made an appointment with the hospital instead that delayed her shift one day until she was pronounced dead on Wednesday (2 weeks ago), at the age of 30, “ Rahman added.

“She was fighting her illness valiantly and did her Isah prayer on her last day,” she said.

“Lailah has chosen the difficult decision — final exit — when her leave was turned down several times,” Rahman said.

In a gathering two weeks back at the International Philippine School in Riyadh, (IPSR) organized by Rahman’s family, relatives, and the Diwan international, the medical director and staff of the hospital which employed Lailah offered their condolence to the relatives.

“We lost a very honest and hardworking staff,” said Dr. Mustafa Hamdi, the medical director of Mubarak Hospital. “Our grief is very painful as she left us suddenly as if somebody kidnapped her from us.”

“We were ready to treat her in our hospital till the end at any cost but she could not stay for more than 3 weeks,” he added.

As promised by Hamdi, the hospital released Lailah’s “legal rights and dues” to her sister ain the presence of Attaché Mustapha Lucman of the Philippine Embassy a few days ago.

In the same gathering, Munir Lucman of the Philippines Overseas Labor Office (POLO) and Diwan Chairman Macapagal Datudacola asked Hamdi to explain why Lailah was not allowed to go on leave despite the urgent reasons she had cited, such as the death of her father.

The hospital reportedly kept telling Lailah that there was nobody to replace her. Rahman said she did not believe it because two additional nurses were already recruited then.

“But what was worse was that my sister had already been confined at the hospital where she was working for three weeks but still she was made to work. Due to her ailment she could not eat, saying that she felt like vomiting if she did. Still she was made to work.”

To relieve her of her pain, she was given painkillers. Rahman said her sister was also assigned to a nursery section “where, because of her condition, the lives of the children were at risk.”

Dr. Hamdi, the medical director, denied the allegations when contacted by Arab News by telephone. He denied that his employees had a three-year contract, adding that it was her employees who wanted to have their vacation every three years so that they could save.

“They themselves (nurses) wanted to stay for 3 years for financial reasons,” he said. When asked about the delay of the salaries for 5 moths in some cases, Dr. Hamdi said it was the nurses’ preference. “It is convenient for them because when they go for a vacation we pay them all their pending salaries which make them happy,” he added.

He said that the hospital did not allow Lailah to work during her illness but she requested to do so to relieve herself of loneliness and avoid thinking about her illness. “So she did not want to stay confined in her room,” the medical director added when asked why she was allowed to work.

“When we discovered the seriousness of her disease, I phoned directly her sister in the night to inform her about the seriousness of Lailah’s disease. But she begged me not to tell her sister. I have given her 2 options: either to repatriate her home and hand over her all her legal rights and dues or stay and we will do everything we can do,” he said.

Hamdi claimed that it was Laila’s family that decided to let her stay and be treated at the hospital.