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‘Eleven months of misery’: Australians reveal emotional, financial toll of being stranded in India
By Rachel Clun
A Melbourne man stranded in India with his elderly mother fears he is putting his life at risk just by going out for bare necessities, while a woman said she had to start cancer treatment overseas because she could not get a flight home.
Sunny travelled from Melbourne to Delhi in May last year to help his critically ill father. He told a parliamentary COVID-19 committee he has since struggled to get himself and his mother home.
Committee chair Katy Gallagher watches on as Sunny gives video evidence to a Senate hearing on COVID-19.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“After 11 months of misery, I’m still stranded in India with my elderly mother who has multiple medical conditions and mobility issues,” said Sunny, who chose not to use his last name. “To make things worse for us, we are living in an area which is experiencing a tsunami of COVID-19 infections.”
More than 9000 Australians have registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as wanting to come home. At the end of April, all direct flights from India to Australia were halted for three weeks as the number of COVID-19 cases in hotel quarantine rose dramatically, the majority detected in people arriving from India.
India’s healthcare system has been overwhelmed by a second wave of COVID-19, with total infections passing 21 million and more than 230,000 deaths.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Friday flights would resume on May 15 and more than 1000 people were expected to return by the end of June.
However, those who tested positive for COVID-19 would not be able to return to Australia on chartered repatriation flights to protect Australia against a third wave, Mr Morrison said.
Sunny said he and his mother were in “fear for our lives”, with high rates of COVID-19 on his street in Delhi.
“We think it is just a matter of time when we may get infected and get into serious trouble,” he said. “Considering the healthcare system here is overwhelmed and almost dysfunctional. People are dying on the streets because of lack of oxygen.”
Meg Arora travelled to India in January 2020 for an extended holiday and was caught there when the country closed its border two months later. She said she had struggled to cope while living in a small town three days’ travel from Delhi and trying to support herself financially and emotionally.
“You just get emotionally, so down and depressed,” she said.
Both Sunny and Meg had tried to return to Australia several times but faced cancelled flights.
Meg said she was diagnosed with cancer while stranded and tried to get back to Australia for treatment but had ended up having to undergo chemotherapy in India.
“I do not have access to Medicare or private, my private health insurance ... or anything,” she said. “I have to pay for my treatment upfront and now I’m midway through my treatment because there was just no point waiting anymore because of my condition that I was in.”
Because of her health, she has to complete her treatment before trying to come home.