Parents of nurses stranded in Libya, witnessing a fresh bout of conflict, have sought effective governmental intervention to bring back their wards.
Thankachan Varghese, president of the action council formed to champion the cause of the nurses, said here on Saturday that 25 of 100 nurses stranded in Benghazi, the second largest city in Libya, were Keralites. Most of them could not make use of the earlier successful initiative of the Union and State governments as the managements had not allowed them to break the contract, he said.
The parents said at least 25 nurses were huddled together at the Government Medical Centre at Benghazi as many of the hospitals had been closed down by the militia. Mr. Varghese said the managements had not allowed them to keep their travel documents, passports, and certificates. In most cases, the managements had not paid salaries for the past many months, Mr. Varghese said.
E.M. Thomas, whose daughter was among the stranded nurses, said there was no information on the actual situation and feared that the nurses were in the custody of either militia or the managements.
The CM’s Office said the issue had been taken up with Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and with the Ambassador to Tunisia who holds charge of Libya.
The Ambassador had promised that he would travel to Libya to meet the nurses. The NoRKA office had a list of 29 nurses stranded in Libya. They could be evacuated either from a smaller airstrip from a town nearer to Benghazi or via Tunisia, the Indian embassy authorities said.
