Paralysed Bangladeshi stuck in Abu Dhabi farmhouse

A paralysed, bed-ridden man living in a farmhouse in Rahba area of Abu Dhabi is seeking help to get out of a stinking room filled with soiled tissue papers.

Harun Talukdar, 40, has been bedridden for more than eight months, following a severe spinal cord injury when a wall collapsed over him at a construction site.

The accident in February 2014 resulted in 100 per cent disability, restricting his movement even for routine things. He received treatment at Mafraq Hospital for two months (February to April 2014) after an being initially treated at Al Rahba Hospital.

When Talukdar was discharged, doctors at the Mafraq Hospital advised that he be under the constant care of a family member or caregiver. He was also given 45 days’ medical leave.

Since his family is in Bangladesh, he has been at the mercy of friends and colleagues who live in the same Rahba accommodation.

The mason from Bangladesh, who arrived in the UAE about three years ago, needs help for everything – from answering calls of nature to taking food and water or even to get on to a wheelchair provided by his employer.

A newly built wall fell over him while he was having lunch.

A health certificate issued by the Medical Board of Abu Dhabi Health Authority certifies that Talukdar suffers from 100 per cent disability due to the accident at the construction site. His case against the sub-contracting firm is pending with police.

“I have been bedridden for several months and I have bedsores on my back. I cannot move from my bed to go to the toilet, eat food or drink water without help. For the past four days, I am stuck here. I am without food. A colleague who was assigned to help me has stopped coming because he started going to work. My room has been stinking because I cannot clean the bed, which is in a mess filled with tissue papers that I use after attending to calls of nature.”

Talukdar’s situation seems to have worsened by the removal of the personal care staff who was helping the paralysed man.

KV Shamsudeen, Founder of Pravasi Bandhu Welfare Trust, who received several distress calls about the Bangladeshi patient said: “I have received many calls from his friends seeking urgent medical help for him. I know about his situation for many months now.”

The manager who used to handle his case told Emirates 24|7: “It is a problem caused by another sub-contracting company. We have given him a separate room with toilet facility, food, medicines and wheelchair. You can check his bank account and see the money being paid to him. The accident case is pending with the police. What else can we do?”

Talukdar says he is helpless without a caregiver, and needs a person to take care of him until the court case is resolved and he can return to his country.

“I cannot survive without someone’s help. I get food only in the evenings, when some of my friends return from work,” he said.

“I don’t even know when the court hearing of my accident case is. I cannot go back to Bangladesh without getting due compensation from the court because my family is poor and I don’t have any resources there,” he said, adding that his family – wife, children and parents – is not aware of his condition.

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