Sharjah authorities charge woman in coma visa fines

Sharjah: Sharjah Naturalisation and Residency Department (SNRD) has charged a woman who has been lying in coma in a hospital for the past seven weeks with overstay fines and visa cancellation fees.

The Ethiopian woman, Taiba Hussain, 19, who is at Al Kuwaiti hospital, fell ill a few days after she arrived to work for a family here.

A social worker told Gulf News that the Sharjah residency department made her go to great lengths to cancel the patient's visa.

"It takes me too long to cancel Taiba's visa and to get her passport back so she can travel home but the officials refused to give hand of help," she said.

Being difficult

"They asked me to go to a typing centre to type the application for visa cancelation and refused to help despite the fact that I showed them the medical report of the woman.

"I told them that Dubai residency department will do the cancellation for free without even asking for application but they rudely said to me 'this is Sharjah'", she said.

The Ministry of Interior last year set special rules to protect the rights of domestic helpers in the country, but it seems the residency department in Sharjah is not aware of that, added the social worker.

Officials at the SNRD were not available for comments.

The law states that if a domestic helper is sick for the first three months of work then the agency must hold all responsibilities.

Taiba is travelling home today after some friends donated money for her plane ticket.