A Keralite doctor stranded in the Maldives after the COVID-19 lockdown is struggling to survive as the health authorities in the island nation have not extended his contract.

Dr Rajakumaran Mampuzha, who hails from Kanjiramattom in Kottayam district, is staying at an ordinary lodge at Fareedhi Magu in the capital city of Male. After he lost the job, his wife, a LIC employee in Thiruvananthapuram, used to transfer him the money. It became impossible after the lockdown.

He is now getting food from a restaurant on credit.

“The lockdown was imposed on April 14 all of a sudden. By the evening, all shops were shut and I had no option to get food. That day, I took back the leftover rice from the waste bin in my room and ate it with some Rasam which I had kept back,” Rajakumaran told Onmanorama over the phone from Male.

“Only some posh hotels are allowed to deliver food at home. I cannot afford the expensive stuff every day,” he said.

The Indian Embassy had intervened to arrange his food thrice a day after Malayalam media reported his travails. The embassy asked a posh hotel to supply him the food on condition that he would have to pay the bills before his departure. “I'm not in a position to afford it,” he said.

Rajakumaran left for the Maldives with over 20 years of services in Kerala.

“I worked in a government hospital from January 3, 2019, to January 3, 2020. In between, the Maldives government made it mandatory to pass a test to work in the country. My hospital manager, however, told me that I did not have to appear for the examination as I had enough experience. Again, in October I was told I should pass the exam. However, I was not allowed to write the examination in November citing a shortage of doctors. Now, they are not ready to renew my contract. That's how I got trapped here,” the doctor said.

He said the Kerala government should urgently intervene to save people stranded in the country.

Tales of hunger

Dr Rajakumaran said the situation post lockdown in the Maldives is so grave that essential food items like wheat were stolen from shops.

“The other day, when I was at the eatery where I go to buy food, a person came with four bulbs and asked for food in exchange. The restaurant owner, who is a nice person, offered him free food,” he said.