Indian community organizations in Saudi Arabia teamed up to help repatriate a 20-year-old boy from India who was severely injured after an accident on a construction site in Riyadh that left him paralyzed from the waist down.
Babu Kommu, from the state of Andhra Pradesh, was able to go home with the help of community organizations from his home state, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. R. Muraleedharan, president of the Federation of Kerala Associations in Saudi Arabia (FOKASA), said yesterday: “When news about the sad situation of this boy appeared in newspapers in Saudi Arabia as well as in Andhra Pradesh, several community organizations in Riyadh came forward to help."
FOKASA extended all possible help after Venu Madhav of Telugu Kala Kshetra contacted them, Muraleedharan added.
He pointed out the Riyadh Indian Friendship Association (RIFA) and Amma Peravai of Tamil Nadu also provided financial help to the disabled boy as well as Telugu Kala Kshetra and a number of other workers from Andhra Pradesh’s Karimnagar district.
However, Kommu’s company, a contractor called Sathyya, did not extend any financial support, said the FOKASA chief.
Speaking before his departure to India, Kommu thanked all those who helped him, especially the manager of Shifa Al-Jazeerah polyclinic Ashraf Venghat, who permitted him to stay in his clinic for more than two months free of cost.
Venghat also arranged an ambulance to drop Kommu at the airport.
According to a medical report issued by Shumaisy Hospital, Riyadh, Kommu now suffers from incomplete paraplegia, indicating his condition may improve if prolonged physiotherapy is given.
