RIYADH: A Colombo-based charity has come forward to arrange the repatriation of a Sri Lankan housemaid who has been in a coma for three months in a hospital in the Eastern Province.
Saroja Devi, 32, who is from Wilanagama, Alawatugoda, was admitted to Al-Musa Hospital, a private health care facility, by her employer on July 2. She was later transferred to the government-run Prince Saud bin Jalawi Hospital due to the high cost of treatment at the private hospital.
The maid suffered brain damage due to smoke inhalation in a fire and subsequently slipped into a coma. Nurses at the government hospital said the woman was in an almost vegetative state at the time of her admission.
Police confirmed a small fire took place in the house where Devi worked and, at the time, she was working in the kitchen.
According to the statement, two Saudi children — one 12 and the other two — died in the fire.
The Society For Love and Understanding (SFLU), a Colombo-based charity led by Deshamanya Lalith Kotelawela, chairman of Ceylinco Consolidated Group, sent SR18,000 to bring the maid to Sri Lanka.
The money was sent to Dr. Kifaya Ifthikar, who formed a support group on her husband’s request to help repatriate the maid.
“The patient will be flown by Saudi Arabian Airlines on Tuesday. Since she is going to be stretcher-passenger, she has to be sent through Riyadh airport due to technical reasons,” Ifthikar told Arab News, adding that Devi will be brought to Riyadh in an ambulance.
She added that Devi would be traveling with a doctor or a nurse, as she is in need of continuous medical support. Ifthikar said that a special medical team from SFLU would receive Devi in Colombo.
A senior official from the welfare section of the Sri Lankan Embassy told Arab News that he visited the patient in the hospital yesterday.
According to hospital authorities, the woman had suffered brain damage and that there was little chance of recovery.
“Doctors had given the green light to airfreight the patient with an accompanying medic or paramedic,” the official said.
The woman’s husband had requested the Saudi police through the Sri Lankan Embassy to conduct a thorough investigation in the case because he suspected his wife might have been the victim of a crime.
