Natives help repatriate ailing Mandi youth from Abu Dhabi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, September 28

Amid Covid restrictions, some Good Samaritans joined hands to help repatriate an ailing Mandi youth from Abu Dhabi and admitted him to a health facility in Delhi. The group, comprising natives of Himachal Pradesh working in the UAE, helped arrange an air ambulance to shift 30-year-old Sandeep Sharma of Bandal village in Sarkaghat, who had been in coma since mid-March due to a neurological disorder.

The help came after Sandeep’s family called a distant relative, who approached Naresh Kaundal, his contact, in Abu Dhabi. Hailing from Hamirpur, Kaundal met officials in the Indian Embassy and Sandeep’s employer firm BRF for his repatriation.

Sandeep started complaining of headache and blurred vision around mid-February. “Sandeep first visited the company’s clinic and then a local hospital, which referred him to a specialised facility. He had started losing vision by then and soon slipped into coma,” says Kaundal.

As coronavirus spread, Sandeep had to be shifted to a rehab centre as the speciality hospital. It was then that the youth’s family started making attempts for his repatriation. The task, however, wasn’t easy as lockdown had been imposed in India as well as the UAE. “The repatriation could be done finally on September 22. The efforts had started in May,” says Chetan Chauhan, a Shimla entrepreneur in Dubai.

Full of gratitude for the help they received in repatriating Sandeep, his brother Shamu Sharma said Sandeep was getting better. “He didn’t have anyone to look after him from the family for so long. We are grateful to everyone who took care of him. He’s now getting better and, hopefully, will recover very soon,” said Sandeep’s brother.

Had slipped into coma

• Sandeep Sharma of Bandal village in Sarkaghat had been in coma since mid-March due to a neurological disorder
• Help came after Sandeep’s family phoned a distant relative, who approached Naresh Kaundal, his contact, in Abu Dhabi
• Hailing from Hamirpur, Kaundal met officials in the Indian Embassy and Sandeep’s employer firm for his repatriation

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