Indian chained to hospital bed for 5 months in Saudi Arabia

DUBAI: An Indian for nearly five months has been chained to a hospital bed here after he was arrested in a forgery case and is waiting to be deported back home, a report said today.

Ram Pradip Mali was brought to the King Fahd hospital in Jeddah from the prison in January after he became weak.

The National Society for Human Rights Society (NSHR) called Mali's treatment as inhumane.

He is suffering from severe anaemia, which has caused life-threating problems of inflammation and acute bone marrow, The Saudi Gazette reported.

Mali was admitted to the intensive care unit and moved to an isolation room due to infection concerns .

The hospital has written several letters to prison officials, demanding his speedy deportation after his condition stabilises since the treatment is costly, said the report.

There are also fears of a relapse in his condition since his leg has been chained to the bed for five months.

"The man is disgruntled because the Indian consulate has not made any serious effort to solve his case after its representative visited him in the hospital," Dr Hussein Al-Shareef, supervisor of the NSHR branch said.

Mali also claimed that same treatment was not meted out to him by the consulate as to his colleagues, who were promptly deported following their arrest in a forgery case, Al-Shareef added.

"We are preparing a report on the patient's condition, which we will refer to authorities for expediting his deportation due to his heath condition," Al-Shareef said.

"Chaining him is an inhuman and inappropriate act," he said. "It is humiliating and does not show any regard for the patient's dignity and it is causing him fear," he added.