JEDDAH: A dispute between nine Indian medical workers and their employer, Dr. Siddiqa Hospital in Jeddah, has been settled with the intervention of the Indian Embassy and the Labor Court, the workers said yesterday.
The eight nurses and a lab technician were not paid their salaries for months and were denied final-exit visas and return tickets to facilitate their departure home.
The hospital promised Anna Verghese, Ivy K.C., Neethu Andan, Swapna P, Sumi Sojan, Sandhyamole C.K., Clara Thomas, Shabeena Abdulkhadeer and Mini Karunakaran to send them back to India within the month after payment of all their dues.
“With reference to your news item published on Dec. 17, we undersigned confirm the following: The issue between us and Dr. Siddiqa Hospital has been settled amicably with the intervention of the Indian Embassy and the Labor Office ... And they are ready to send us back within this month,” said one of the nurses in a statement faxed to Arab News.
In April, the Labor Court determined that the nurses should be paid their money due and be given their return tickets to India within six months. Last week, over a month past the court-ordered deadline, the workers sent a fax to Arab News where they said that they have yet to receive their back pay and exit visas.
Tariq Al-Ibrahim, a Saudi lawyer who specializes in labor-related litigations, has urged workers to file complaints with the Labor Office as early as possible in the event of nonpayment by an employer.
