Lankan charity to help repatriate comatose maid [November 16 2008]

Colombo-based charity has come forward to arrange the repatriation of a Sri Lankan housemaid who has been in a coma for three months in a hospital in the Eastern Province. Saroja Devi, 32, who is from Wilanagama, Alawatugoda, was admitted to Riyadh's Al-Musa Hospital, a private health care facility, by her employer on July 2. She was later transferred to the government-run Prince Saud bin Jalawi Hospital due to the high cost of treatment at the private hospital.

The maid suffered brain damage due to smoke inhalation in a fire and subsequently slipped into a coma. Nurses at the government hospital said the woman was in an almost vegetative state at the time of her admission. Police confirmed a small fire took place in the house where Devi worked and, at the time, she was working in the kitchen. According to the statement, two Saudi children — one 12 and the other two — died in the fire. The Society For Love and Understanding (SFLU) financed the costs to bring the maid to Sri Lanka. Devi would be traveling with a doctor or a nurse, as she is in need of continuous medical support. A special medical team from SFLU would receive Devi in Colombo.