Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — An expatriate worker, who had one of his legs amputated following an accident, is desperately seeking help to claim compensation and return home to continue the treatment to save his other leg.

“I struggle even for food and also treatment, forget about salary which is not being paid by the employer since I was hospitalized. As a result my family back home is facing hardships,” said 44-year-old Sarfaraz Nawaz, who is hailing from Siwan district in Bihar, India.

Sarfaraz had been working as shovel operator in a contracting company in the holy city of Madinah for six years. He sustained multiple injuries and severe fractures on both legs in an accident involving a concrete mixer truck in June this year. He said the accident took place on the company’s premises in Aziziah district off Yanbu Road.

Prior to the accident Sarfaraz was an energetic and hardworking person. Unable to move, he is now confined to bed and is fully dependent on colleagues for food and other basic needs.

His left was amputated below the knee

due to the severity of injuries, crippling him permanently. His right leg also had multiple fractures and doctors opined that it might also require amputation, according to Sarfaraz. After three months of treatment, he was discharged from the hospital.

Speaking to Saudi Gazette, Sarfaraz said, “I cannot move without the help of others. There is severe pain on by back when I sit down for a long period. I neither have the means nor the physical ability to go to any office to seek help.”

When asked about filing a formal complaint and pursuing the legal option to get financial compensation, he said, “I don’t know about any procedures. When I can’t go to the toilet alone, how can I go to any office.”

He said he was worried about his remaining leg. “I became permanently crippled and is left to the mercy of others,” he said in a sobbing voice.

His colleagues, Sanjay Singh and Wajiuddin, have been helping him out to eat and pass urine and stool. “In fact, Sanjay Singh comes in the afternoon during lunch break to feed me,” he added.

The bed-ridden worker said he was not being paid since the accident.

Sarfaraz is equally worried about his 20-year-old daughter’s marriage. “How can I marry off my daughter now? This was my prime intention in coming over to Saudi Arabia for work,” he said.