HIV-infected Indian Worker in Bahrain Dies

An HIV-infected Indian worker in Bahrain died, days before he was to return to India to be reunited with his family.

A free visa worker, Muthanna Poshanna, 46, died following complications from the HIV and tuberculosis he was suffering from, according to a report in the Gulf Daily News newspaper.

Officials in the Indian embassy in Bahrain said that they were waiting for word from Poshanna's family in Andhra Pradesh on what to do with the body.

K.R. Nair, general secretary of the Surya Charitable and Cultural Association (SCCA), the organisation which had taken up Poshanna's case, told the newspaper: "The family has sent us word that they would like him cremated and we are already making arrangements for that. The body will be cremated in Bahrain soon."

Poshanna's case had came to light when he was admitted to the Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) here on Feb 1 with complications relating to tuberculosis. He was subsequently found to be HIV positive.

Poshanna, who claimed to have come to Bahrain in 1991, had said that his Bahraini sponsor had taken away his passport away and left him in lurch. His wife had died of cancer last year.

During an earlier interview, Poshanna had said that he hoped his two sons and a daughter would not mind taking care of him.

Last May, embassy officials and local volunteers had managed to put together the necessary documents to send him back to India. But doctors at SMC had advised against moving him citing his deteriorating health.

Nair told the newspaper that members of the public donated "hundreds of dinars" for Poshanna to take back home with him.

The money is now being sent to the worker's children in Andhra Pradesh.

(Source: IANS)