NRI Businessman in Oman Plans Medical Aid for Poor

A NRI businessman in Oman is unveiling a scheme under which sick and injured Indians sent back will receive further treatment on reaching India.

Dinesh Kumar Dawda, managing director of Al Itefaq Trading LLC, said he was making arrangements with a team of doctors in India who can treat such patients who cannot get access to further treatment either due to lack of information or finance, according to the Times of Oman newspaper.

"A team of medical professionals would give the required assistance as and when they reach India for further treatment," Dawda told the newspaper.

"I have already made arrangements in Gujarat and Maharashtra with the help of a team of leading doctors and I am looking to see if we can make similar arrangements in other states too."

Dawda, 49, said that most such cases involved poor workers and hence he thought of the scheme.

There are over 300,000 Indians in Oman, many working as contract labourers.

"As you are aware, most of them belong to the underprivileged classes. Most are scared to approach hospitals in India because of the cost factor. Since they know that they will not be able to afford it, they do not attempt to pursue the matter - it is so sad," he was quoted as saying.

He, however, added that he would take up only genuine cases.

He will be leaving for India Aug 20 to formalise the arrangements in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Dawda is well known in Oman for his charitable and philanthropic activities. His work over the last 27 years has benefitted people from various nationalities and religions.

"My grandfather had said that every man should earmark a small portion of his wages, daily or monthly, for charity. And this is what I have been doing all my life," Dawda told the Times.

(Source: IANS)