ABU DHABI // M K has been battling with his company for almost seven years.
The 42-year-old Bangladeshi electrician is seeking Dh5 million compensation for injuries he says he sustained while working for a contracting company.
He has filed several cases against the company demanding compensation for injuries which he says are management’s fault for forcing him to work in unbearable conditions. But doctors have not taken his side.
His first of several injuries, he says, was at a work site in 2008 where he says he was electrocuted when someone accidentally turned on the main switchboard while he was doing electrical work. He was sent to the hospital where doctors said he was fine.
“The doctors are cheaters,” he says. “They were paid off by the company.”
In 2011, he was electrocuted again, and fell from the first floor at a worksite. He was examined at an outpatient clinic in Mussafah, which reported that there were no fractures or injuries sustained.
In March 2013, he fell again, this time off a two-metre ladder at a worksite in Dubai. He blamed the fall on heat stroke.
M K complains of vertigo, double vision, pain in the neck and upper extremities and says he requires further surgeries that his insurance company does not cover.
“I need Dh46,000 for neck surgery and disc replacement,” he says. “The doctor said to go back to Bangladesh and it’s my own personal problem. This is the company’s fault.”
M K says he supports three children who cannot live without the money he sends home.
In September 2013 he filed a case with the civil court asking that he be compensated for his 2011 injury. He failed to supply any documents or proof of injury.
He went to the civil court again with medical documents and a report from a forensic examiner but the case was rejected for a second time for not going through the proper channels and because a year had passed since the 2011 incident. Court documents said the reports he submitted were conflicting and also said he did not need treatment beyond pain medication.
“These are cheating selfish doctors,” he says of the doctors who have examined him and written reports. While he admits that “all safety is given by the company”, he says forcing him to work in the heat without ventilation caused his last injury where he fell off the ladder.
He still works for the company, but gets frequent warnings for failing to come to work.
salnuwais@thenational.ae
