Six nurses from Coimbatore, who were working in the war-torn Yemen returned here, on Thursday.
Some of their relatives went to Chennai to receive their dear ones, while others waited with anxiety writ large on their faces at the Coimbatore railway station in the wee hours of Thursday.
M. Shyni (38) of Thudiyalur, M. Anitha (35) of Rathinapuri, R. Jeevamani (40) of Ammankulam, P. Rajeshwari (34) of Sundakamuthur, M. Muthulakshmi (34) of Gandhipuram and K. Indrani (40) of Ramanathapuram were all working in a private hospital in the city about two years ago. In 2013, they found jobs in Yemen through a consultant. Shyni and Anitha made it in the first attempt and joined a hospital where they worked till their return. Within six months, the other four got jobs in a university hospital. After a year, they switched to the hospital where the two nurses worked.
The nurses have not even earned the money they had spent on going to Yemen. The started feeling the heat of the violent power struggle in Yemen about 10 days ago when clashes began at Mukalla. “Our hospital was closed and we stayed on the fourth floor of the locked hospital,” Shyni said.
She added that they were fear-stricken when helicopters dropped bombs around the hospital last Tuesday. Anitha said they recorded a video of the clash and rebels breaking into a bank opposite their hospital. Jeevamani said the most frightful incident was treating a wounded rebel at gun point.
A total of nine nurses from India including three from Kerala worked in the hospital. While eight of them returned, a nurse from Kerala has taken the risk to stay back.
They were among nearly 200 Indians working in hospitals, education institutions, oil companies, malls and bakeries, at Mukalla. They left Yemen in the Indian navy ship Sumitra on Sunday. The next day they reached the Republic of Djibouti – near Somalia and Ethiopia – in Africa. They were then flown to Mumbai and to Chennai, on Wednesday.
Despite the clashes, the nurses want to return there to work. “It is a wonderful place to work. Women are treated with respect and it is a decent job. The hospital too wants us to return after normalcy,” says Indrani.
