Kasturi Munirathnam says she lost her arm after a fall from the second floor

Almost from the time she landed in Saudi Arabia, Kasturi Munirathnam says she was ill-treated.

“I was never given food properly, my SIM card was taken away, I couldn’t charge my phone and my employer was constantly suspicious of me,” she said.

Media reports have earlier said her employer had chopped off her arm but she told The Hindu that it happened when she attempted to climb down two floors using clothes and then fell down.

She was admitted to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital on her arrival in Chennai on Saturday.

According to her, it all came to a head after just about two months of employment, when her employer threatened to report her to the police.

“I had spoken to some people in a park whom I had heard speaking in Tamil. My employer got suspicious. She kept telling me she did not want a domestic help from Tamil Nadu and even fought with the agent about this,” said the 58-year-old from her hospital bed here.

The day the incident occurred, her employer allegedly caught hold of her hands and threatened her.

“I ran away to another house nearby where a Tamil worked as a driver but he was not there. I managed to speak to him on the phone but he said he was too far away to extend help. When I went back, my employer first shoved me. She had locked herself in the bedroom, and I was knocking on it, begging her to give me my wages and telling her I would leave for India.”

“Later, she made some threatening gestures. She pointed upwards, made a slashing motion with her hand and said some thing. I believed that she was planning to get rid of me. I kept telling her to give me my wages so I could go,” she said.

Eventually, Ms. Kasturi said she was so terrified and attempted to climb down two floors using some clothes. “When I was climbing down, I heard a sudden noise and fell down,” she said.

A doctor who is part of a six-member team treating her said she had suffered a lower back and right thigh bone fracture in addition to her right arm being badly injured. He said that as per her medical records, when she was admitted to hospital, her arm was amputated at the hospital in Saudi Arabia due to the trauma as there were very few functioning nerves left. Both the fractures were also treated there at the hospital, where she was admitted for about a month.

Dean R. Vimala said Ms. Kasturi was in stable condition. Director of Medical Education, S. Geethalakshmi, said a prosthetic implant was being considered for her.

Another doctor on the team said there were some issues to take into account before this could be considered: the oedema that was still present has to subside, the stump has to mature to be able to hold an artificial limb and since the stump was very short, an artificial limb would only serve a cosmetic purpose.

“In the meantime, she needs vigorous physiotherapy as she was bed-ridden for a while and we need to build her confidence,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa ordered a solatium of Rs. 10 lakh to Ms. Kasturi. The sum will be deposited in Power Fin and the monthly interest will be given to her.