Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Onboard first flight to India, an expat hopes to save his eyesight

WhatsApp Image 2020-05-09 at 11.54.20 AM
WhatsApp Image 2020-05-09 at 11.54.20 AM
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Muscat: As the first flight gets ready to take off with the passengers to India with 77 medical emergency, 48 pregnant women and the elderly who would need care and assistance along with four infants, 22 workers and 30 stranded visitors, there is one person who has travelled thousand kilometers from Salalah waiting to board the flight hoping he will be able to save the sight in his right eye.


He is at the Muscat International Airport, waiting to board 'Vande Bharat Mission' flight, thinking of all the people he wants to express his gratitude to as he begins to prepare for the journey.


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A few days ago Sudhi Krishnan, hailing from Koyilandi, Calicut in Kerala, has been working in Salalah in the field of upholstery and curtains.  Even as Covid-19 began its impact, not once Sudhi had thought of occupational hazard that could create such distress.  Today he is one of the 77 passengers who follow under the category of medical emergency.


The mishap resulted in having part of the curtain pin enter his eye and strike it close to his retina.  While he got the medical support to prevent any infection, the doctors advised him to go to Muscat for the surgery to remove the left over debris while on the other hand his family wanted him to come home.


Crossing governorates from Dhofar to reach Muscat needed clearances and no fights were operating to go back home.  While he was spending days in pain he came across the social worker based in Salalah, Nasser Peringathoor, who began to find means to help Sudhi.  That is when the news came about the first flight from Muscat to Cochi and then the focus was to register with the Indian Embassy in Muscat.  The Royal Oman Police arranged the official papers for Sudhi to travel across to Muscat via a Volvo truck ensuring safe travelling covering a distance of 1000 kilometers.  His employer ensured him that all traveling cost will be taken care of.


Now it is a question of hours to reach his destination, but his work is not over yet as he reaches Cochi he needs to move on to the hospital and handle the quarantine and then head for the surgery after the doctors analyze his eye and the medical reports.


But for now he has reached the Muscat International Airport, ready for the flight, which he had never imagined would have happened a few days ago.


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