42-year-old Rajesh Lingaiah Odnala, a native of the Venugumatla village in Gollapalli Mandal of Jagtial district in Telangana worked as a construction worker in Dubai. He was admitted to the ‘Dubai Hospital’ in Dubai on the 23rd of April after feeling unwell, tested positive for Covid-19 and was discharged 80 days later after fully recovering.
Upon being discharged, he was handed over a bill of approximately Rs 1.52 crores (7,62,555 Dirhams) as reported by the Indian Express.
Gundelli Narasimha, president of Gulf Workers Protection Society in Dubai, was made aware of the fact that Odnala did not have the resources to pay the bill. Subsequently, he contacted Sumanth Reddy, an Indian Consulate volunteer in Dubai.
Reddy along with Ashok Kotecha of BAPS Swaminarayan Trust reached out to Harjeet Singh, Consul (Labour) at the office of Consulate General of India in Dubai. Singh wrote to the hospital management and urged them to forgo Odnala’s bill on “humanitarian grounds”. The hospital obliged, saving Odnala from having to pay a back-breaking sum of money.
Return tickets were booked for Rajesh and an escort who could accompany him for free by Kotecha, who also gave them a sum of Rs 10,000 for other expenses.
Rajesh has been sent for a 14-day quarantine in his native village in Telangana.
(Published 16 July 2020, 10:49 IST)
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