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29 March 2024

'Lost' for 4 years in Dubai hospital, 71-year old Indian expat finally found

Published
By VM Sathish

A bed-ridden, partially paralysed expatriate worker has been successfully repatriated to his hometown in Tamil Nadu, almost four-and-a-half years after he was admitted in the Al Rashid Hospital, following a heart attack.

According to Indian social workers and the Indian Consulate officials in Dubai, the chronically ill patient was admitted in the Al Rashid hospital by Dubai Police after he suffered a stroke. 

Chudala Muthu Rajagopal, 71, had partially lost his memory and was not able to communicate properly with anyone.

MP Singh, the Labour Consul and Head of Chancery at the Indian Consulate Dubai has been actively trying to help the bedridden patient.

“We are happy that he is back in Tamil Nadu to spend the rest of his life with his son,” said an Indian Social worker.

He used to work in the UAE but did not have proper documents so tracing his family back home was a difficult task. “He could not speak in Hindi or English or even Tamil properly,” the social worker added.

"He could not remember anything but periodically he would come up with a new piece of information. We have been waiting for a long time to get his proper home address," the social worker said.

“We worked with Indian social workers and the media in India to locate and identify his family back home. We even published his photograph in Tamil Newspapers,” said an official source. 

After his photograph was published in dailies and communication was established with his son, the paperwork was drawn up for his repatriation.

The hospital management played a major role by waiving off his huge hospital bill and coordinating with the Indian social workers and the consulate to repatriate the old man.

Indian Consulate provided an air ticket to send the old man back to his country and his family.