Thiruvananthapuram: These are not cheerful days for nurses from Kerala, given the fact that a few hundred of them had to leave well-paying jobs in different parts of conflict-ridden Yemen, and have been forced to cool their heels at home, without salaries.
To add to their misery, they have to worry about repaying debt related to tuition fees and agents’ commissions.
Amid the gloom, two developments offer some cheer for the disheartened nurses — the questioning of the Protector of Emigrants, who is accused of conniving with a private nursing recruiter in allegedly cheating hundreds of nurses to the tune of millions of rupees, and the decision of the state government to effect a system where recruitment of nurses for jobs in the Middle East are made free of cost.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has questioned the Protector of Emigrants (PoE), L. Adolfus, who is accused of abetting — along with one Uthup Varghese, who owns Kochi-based Al Zarafa Travel and Manpower Consultancy — the duping of hundreds of nurses to the tune of millions of rupees.
Ironically, the nurses are alleged to have been cheated by the PoE, whose job is to protect Indian workers abroad.
With the CBI actively pursuing the case, the nurses who were duped hope that the large sums they paid to Al Zarafa will be returned. Varghese is believed to be in Kuwait and is yet to be detained.
Al Zarafa reportedly had an order from the Kuwait health ministry to recruit over 400 nurses, and the agency was to collect a commission of Rs19,500 (Dh1,137) per candidate. The allegation is that the agency collected Rs1.95 million per candidate, or a hundred times the permitted commission, apparently by fudging the ministry’s order.
While the CBI is proceeding with the case, the state government also made a heartening announcement for the nurses, saying that it will consider making all recruitments of nurses to the Middle East free of cost to the candidates.
Kerala minister for labour and skills, Shibu Baby John said that a preliminary round of discussions with the Kuwait government had brought up the suggestion that employers would bear the recruitment charge.
The state government is also moving towards making overseas recruitment of nurses only through the Overseas Development and Employment Promotion Corporation, and the Non-resident Keralites’ Affairs department, both functioning under the state government.
State minister for non-residents’ affairs, K.C. Joseph said the plan was to conduct recruitments “in a transparent manner” so that candidates for overseas jobs are not cheated by unscrupulous agents.
