ABHA: An Indonesian domestic worker who was suffering from kidney failure and had been stranded in the Kingdom was recently sent back home, thanks to the Social Service Department of Khamis Mushayt General Hospital.

The department took up her case and managed to recover all her dues from the sponsor, who had neglected her for three years.

The maid had suffered kidney failure during her work tenure at her sponsor’s house, and was in need of dialysis for about three times a week. The sponsor left her in the hospital and disappeared. He also ignored the hospital’s notifications for nearly three years.

Saeed Al-Naqeer, spokesman of the Health Ministry’s Asir branch, said that after a lot of efforts, the hospital managed to communicate with the Labor Office in Abha and got a ruling against the sponsor that he clear the maid’s dues and send her back home.

Al-Naqeer said that when the sponsor refused to comply with the ruling, the social department team moved the Abha General Court, which summoned him several times without response. However, the sponsor appeared in the court after services to him were suspended. He was then compelled to abide by the court’s decision to end the maid’s suffering.

Nasser Jarees, chairman of Social Service, confirmed that with the support of the hospital’s management, represented by its director, Abdullah Al-Hania, and his team, the housemaid was sent back.

The women’s social service department, in collaboration with their colleagues in the Industrial College Department, held a simple ceremony to bid farewell to the domestic worker.

Jarees said sponsors are accountable to God first and then to the government agencies for their behavior toward workers. The principles of Islam imposes on all of us to deal with expat workers with courtesy and respect, he added.