Coronavirus Crisis: South Asian Migrants Trapped In Limbo In Persian Gulf Nations

Millions of South Asian migrant workers are stranded in the Persian Gulf states as the coronavirus outbreak has eliminated their jobs, while the grounding of airplanes preclude their repatriation to their homelands. In some cases, their native countries have even refused to receive them due to fears of further infections.

Most of these foreign laborers work in the construction, hospitality, retail, transport and services sectors, most of which have been shuttered by the pandemic.

To make matters worse, many workers already live in cramped apartments and labor camps which makes them more susceptible to contracting the illness.

Currently, some 8 million Indians live in the six nations comprising the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates). About one-fourth of them hail from Kerala. Some 3 million Indians live in UAE.

Mohamed Aslam, an Indian engineer, shares a three-bedroom apartment in Abu Dhabi with 14 other people. His building has been placed under quarantine by local health authorities after some residents became infected.

“The charities are covering the food -- dinner, lunch, breakfast,” Aslam said. “Praise be to God, because of charity we are surviving.”

Most of the Gulf states have locked down neighborhoods with a high concentration of foreign workers and have increased testing procedures there.

At least 16,500 virus cases and 111 related deaths have been confirmed in the Gulf states.

“Many people are infected and are staying with other people,” said Krishna Kumar, president of the Kerala Social Center in the United Arab Emirates, or UAE. “We are trying to isolate them.”

Overcrowding is one of the biggest factors in the rising infection rate.

“We have seen clustered outbreaks in the labor camps,” said a doctor in the UAE.

Diplomats and charities in UAE are delivering meals, medicine and other services to migrants in need. They have also searched for new housing in empty buildings.

Reportedly, government officials in India and Pakistan informed the UAE they were not yet prepared to receive their repatriated countrymen for fear of a new round of infections.

“We’re aware of all of those [Pakistani migrant workers] who have been laid off and their plight,” said Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari, special assistant to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan. “We’re just waiting to create the right mechanism so that we don’t overburden the system of taking people in here.”

Imran Ahmed, the Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister for Bangladesh said the Dhaka government is seeking to relieve the country’s migrants hardships in the Gulf states by sending money to foreign missions “so that migrants in trouble can be taken care of.”

Migrants in the Gulf countries also have limited access to health care.

S. Irudaya Rajan, Professor at the Center of Development Studies in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, India and Ginu Zacharaia Oommen, a member of the Kerala Public Service Commission, said Indian migrants in the Arab countries are in a desperate situation.

“In the wake of the COVID-19 spread, the situation of Indian immigrants is very precarious,” they said. “Nurses, small businessmen, laborers have been infected in significant numbers and there is no care for them.”

In Kuwait, they noted, Indian-dominated areas like Jleeb Al Shuwaikh and Mahboula have been quarantined – at present 530 of its 993 confirmed cases are Indians.

In Dubai, more than 500 Indians have been infected.

“These low and semi-skilled laborers have multiple ailments like diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol and even kidney, liver problems and cancer,” Rajan and Oommen stated. “Since medicines are very expensive in [the] Gulf countries, migrants often procure their medication from India and stockpile for three to four months. Worryingly, there are reports these stocks have been used up and there is now an acute shortage.”

The Gulf countries, they warned, lack broad-based healthcare facilities to accommodate a high number of patients.

“Before the situation worsens, the Indian government should evacuate on a priority basis those immigrants without visa documents, dependents who are mostly elderly, women, children and unemployed persons,” they recommended.

Social distancing is impossible in the crowded labor camps that most Indian workers are forced to live in.

The chief minister of Kerala has demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi repatriate Indian workers from the Gulf.

“The majority of Keralites are blue-collar workers and living in crowded facilities in Dubai,” said Pinarayi Vijayan. "Therefore the probability of spreading the [coronavirus] is very high."

Vijayan also criticized UAE officials for their "inadequate isolation and quarantine facilities.”

"Preventive measures and quarantine methods implemented in Dubai are neither effective nor adequate," Vijayan said.

The Dubai-based Kerala Muslim Cultural Center petitioned the Indian High Court to compel the government to repatriate its citizens.

"We know of 10,000 people just from Kerala who want to come back home," said Haris Beeran, a lawyer representing the petitioners. "Many workers no longer have jobs [and] some people are on visit visas that have expired. They don't have any means to live in the UAE and would rather return to their family at this time."

However, India's ambassador to the UAE said no repatriation can occur until India's own nationwide lockdown is ended.

"Once the lockdown in India is lifted, we will certainly help them get back to their hometowns and their families," said Ambassador Pavan Kapoor.