THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: At a time when the Union Government and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy were on a relentless effort to free the 46 Malayalee nurses from the clutches of ISIS militants in Iraq, the Minister in Charge of Non-Resident Keralite Affairs (Norka) K C Joseph was conspicuous by his absence. When contacted, the office of the Minister said that the NORKA Minister was in the US to attend the annual meet of the Federation Of Kerala Associations in North America (FOKANA).
“The Minister is in the US to attend the national convention of FOKANA and will be back only on Saturday,” informed his office.
The absence of the Minister, who is aware of the situation in Iraq, has raised many an eyebrow with the Opposition deputy leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan opining that the NORKA Minister should have been in the Delhi to coordinate the rescue operations of the Kerala nurses instead of being in the US to attend the function of the Malayalee Association.
“When the Nitaqat row was a burning issue K C Joseph had then chosen to visit Switzerland instead of going to Saudi Arabia. It had been a major controversy then. Now, he, who should have spearheaded the rescue operations from Delhi, is not even in the country but attending a function in the US,” Kodiyeri said.
He said that the situation in Iraq called for the NORKA Minister to cancel his trip as he was fully aware of the plight of the nurses stranded in Tikrit.
“When the Opposition brought up the issue in the Assembly, we had raised that Joseph did not give enough seriousness to the issue. Now, it is evident to all that the NORKA Minister did not bother about the nurses’ plight in Iraq,” Kodiyeri said. Meanwhile, officials in the NORKA Department are making necessary arrangements for the nurses coming back to the state on Saturday.
Special arrangements have been made in Kochi and Aluva Guest Houses for accommodating the nurses and further travelling arrangements to take them home. Also, the NORKA would provide an amount of `5,000 each to the nurses to meet the immediate expenses. It is being reported that Air India will fly a Boeing 777 to bring back the nurses who will reach Kochi airport on Saturday morning.
NMC Group Offers Jobs for Nurses
T’Puram: Nurses who come back from conflict-torn Iraq may be employed in hospitals under the NMC Group, if they are interested, said group CEO B R Shetty in a statement here on Friday. “The nurses will be employed in hospitals under our group in SAARC countries. If they need counselling, we would provide that also,” he said. Shetty said the group has posted Sudhakar Jayaram, who is in-charge of the hospitals in SAARC countries, to take action in this case.