More assurance of help to 46 nurses from strife-torn Iraq

KOCHI: More assurances of help pour in for the 46 nurses, who arrived here on July 5 from strife-torn Iraq.

Dr Azad Moopen, Chairman of Aster DM Healthcare and Director of Non Resident Keralites Association has offered cash assistance of Rs 25,000 to each nurses to meet their immediate requirements, besides offering job opportunities to them in various establishments in India and abroad.

Aster DM Healthcare employs about 4500 people in India and 5000 abroad in its 170-plus establishments and have more than 1500 nurses as staff, a press release said.

"We will recruit these repatriated and devastated nurses on priority at Aster Medicity-Kochi, MIMS Hospitals at Kozhikode and Kottakkal and DM WIMS Medical College & Hospital in Wayanad. For those interested to return to Middle East, we shall accommodate them in our hospitals and clinics in UAE, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, if they fulfill official requirements", Moopen said.

A leading UAE-based Indian businessman has offered jobs to 46 Indian nurses, who returned to their homeland after being stranded for about a month in the militants-held region in Iraq.

NMC Healthcare Group CEO Dr B R Shetty has also offered jobs to the nurses.

Shetty, who owns and runs hospitals in the UAE, Egypt and India, has convey his offer to Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.

Of the 46 nurses, 45 hail from various districts of Kerala and one belongs to Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu.