NRI deaths sully Kerala’s Gulf dream

Mohammad Hussein’s family in Kerala was looking forward to his return from Qatar, where he had been working for 20 years, when they received a call in May from a volunteer group working for the benefit of expatriates saying his condition was serious after having contracted Covid-19. A week later the family received photos of Hussein’s burial.

Hussein, 47, is among 296 expatriates from Kerala who have died of Covid-19 in West Asia, according to preliminary information with the state government. Migrant rights activists say the number of deaths could be higher and that many of them could have been prevented had the government shown a sense of urgency in evacuating them.

“He has four children, all younger than 20. With the breadwinner gone, it will be difficult for the family now,” said Mohammad Ashraf, Hussein’s younger brother. Some families, who can afford it, are paying to keep the bodies in mortuaries, hoping they can be brought back when commercial flights resume. “My father’s body is in a morgue in Bahrain. And we are paying through our nose. We hope the body can be brought back once the situation improves,” said the daughter of another person, who succumbed to the infection.

As many as 456, 431 expatriates wanting to return home registered on the government-run Non-Resident Keralites Affairs department website in April. The CM on Thursday said 98,202 people — 80% of them from the Middle East — have returned through airports, so far.

There was much outrage this month after the state made Covidfree

certificates mandatory for the returnees. The Kerala government stood its ground until the Centre rejected the condition saying tests were infeasible at Indian embassies.

Expatriates say many lives could have been saved if people had been evacuated in the early days of the pandemic. “We lost golden hours. Many lives could have been saved if we evacuated them in the early months of the pandemic. Now the state government says expatriates can be super spreaders,” said Reji Kuttappan, a writer and migrant rights activist.