KUALA LUMPUR – Zairul Azwa Mat Yusof had one last wish before succumbing to Covid-19: the 46-year-old Malaysian nurse wanted nothing more than to have her body brought home after her death.
“If I die here (in Saudi Arabia), please bring my body back to Malaysia,” Zairul Azwa told her brother, Muhamad Ridha, in a conversation with him from her deathbed.
Ridha, 54, told The Vibes recently that his late younger sister expressed her wish via a WhatsApp audio note on June 11.
“She told me she felt like her days were numbered because of the virus.
“She asked for my siblings and I to be patient and accept the fate that has been decided on by the Almighty,” he said.
He said Zairul Azwa, who was working at Maternity and Children Hospital in Hail, Saudi Arabia, had been battling Covid-19 for more than 19 days before succumbing to the virus.
“She left for Saudi Arabia on April 28. I never thought that that would be the last time I’d see my sister.”
The Felcra Bhd senior manager said his sister had also not been vaccinated, even though she was a frontliner.
Shy of the start of the roll-out of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme in the country, Zairul quit her job at a local hospital in preparation to travel to Saudi Arabia.
“She told me it is not stipulated by the government for foreign nurses to be vaccinated before starting nursing jobs in Saudi Arabia.
“They are only required to undergo Covid-19 swab tests and the results will be given to the government.
“Even after she started working, she was not vaccinated. She told me that she would only receive her jabs after six months of working there. I was very worried,” he said.
Ridha said he is sad that he is unable to fulfil his sister’s last wish due to hospital policies in the Gulf kingdom.
“I have been contacted by the embassy of Malaysia in Saudi Arabia. They told me her body could not be repatriated back to Malaysia as it is the hospital’s policy in dealing with dead bodies of Covid-19 patients.
“I was told that her body must be buried there and is not allowed to be repatriated back to her country of origin. That is the procedure informed to me.
“The embassy will take care of all burial arrangements,” he said.
“We are really disheartened that we won’t be able to see her one last time, not even to witness her burial.
“But we redha (accept everything that has happened wholeheartedly).”
No iqama, no vaccination
Meanwhile, Rosmawati Zainal Abidin, Zairul Azwa’s junior, said that when healthcare personnel resign from their positions in Malaysia, their names will be removed from receiving the Covid-19 shots.
“I was lucky enough to be fully vaccinated before I started my tenure in Saudi Arabia because, while I was waiting to come here, I worked as a locum nurse in Azalea Putrajaya Hospital.
“They included my name in the list of frontliners to be vaccinated,” the 44-year-old staff nurse told The Vibes.
Rosmawati, who is currently working in the Madinah region, said it is a must for foreign staff to obtain a residence permit or work visa, known as the iqama, to secure vaccination appointments.
“There are some hospitals that will secure vaccination appointments for their staff without iqama, while many don’t,” she said. – The Vibes, July 3, 2021
