Health Minister Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih

Saudi Health Minister Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih met with 50 nurses from Kerala in Jazan along the Yemeni border and assured that those who wish to stay will be transferred to safe places.

The Saudi health minister’s action has been appreciated by the worried nurses, who described it as a “very nice gesture.”

Al-Falih visited the nurses who were concerned about their safety due to the ongoing Yemeni conflict between the Saudi coalition and the Houthi rebels and their cohorts.

A nurse who refused to give her name told the Indo Asian News Service (IANS) that after the meeting with the minister, they felt assured about their safety.

“The minister spoke to us and said that those who want to go back can go but it will take the usual course (of time) and those who wish to be transferred to a safe place will be given that,” IANS quoted the nurse as saying. She said 25 of them “have decided to return and our papers will be processed once the present holy season gets over.” “The usual procedure for getting exit visa is around three months,” said the nurse who was still working at the 150-bed Samtah General Hospital which is attached to the Ministry of Health (MoH). She added that they will resume their duties at the hospital starting next week.

Another Kerala nurse who joined the hospital only recently said the Saudi health minister assured them that they will be transferred to a hospital at a location where there is no tension.

“We will begin our work on Sunday at a new hospital far away from Samtah. We are around 25 nurses who came very recently and now that they have given us a transfer to a safe place we will do our duty and we will not return,” she said.

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