Eliyathamby Rajeswary had come to the Kingdom as a housemaid to work with her husband Ramachandran Raveendran, who is a house driver in the same Saudi household. Raveendran was jailed for one month for assaulting one of his friends in a brawl at his sponsor's compound.

Raveendran has already served the time, but his sponsor refused to get him rout unless his wife paid him SR4,000.

The mental worry caused by her husband's prolonged jail term triggered the premature delivery after six-month pregnancy. The mother is currently in the police ward of the hospital, while the baby is in an incubator in the same hospital. The couple has another 11-month-old daughter, Rasanika, who is being taken care of by the parents' friends.

A senior diplomat from the Sri Lankan mission told Arab News yesterday that three teams were sent to the hospital, the jail and to the sponsor to resolve the problem.

“The mother and baby are in sound health, while the husband can be released from jail since he has completed his sentence and the sponsor agreed to do the needful to repatriate the couple home,” the official said.

The diplomat said the mission has a special team that regularly visits the prisons in the capital to look after the welfare of Sri Lankans who are incarcerated.

Arab News learned about the case from Kottugad Shihab, an Indian social worker who had visited the mother in the hospital during his routine visits to government hospitals and jails.

The social worker said yesterday that although the sponsor demanded SR4,000 from the wife, he accepted SR2,000, which was raised by well-wishers of the couple.

According to Shihab, government hospitals in the Kingdom offer health services free of charge to domestic servants who work in Saudi homes. However, in the case of Raveendran's wife, the sponsor reported the family as absconded (huroob), which disqualifies the couple from free medical care.

“Now that the sponsor has agreed to help the couple, the mother will have no financial obligations toward the hospital,” Shihab added.

Arab News received several offers from readers to help this couple following a previous report about the couple’s plight. However, the embassy, which also received similar offers, said for the moment such assistance was not required.