He arrived in India on March 7, 2020 with his two-year-old daughter for a heart surgery and didn’t have plans of staying after a successful operation.
Plans however changed when Ghana closed its borders later the same month due to the fast spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
When his daughter was discharged in April, Eric Osei had no option but to continue staying in his hotel in New Delhi as the borders were still closed.
Two months after they were discharged, Eric says other foreign nationals who were stranded in the hotel with him have all returned to their countries.
Eric, who is part of some 60 Ghanaians who are stranded in India, has been in touch with Ghana’s High Commission in the country and says he was told they can only be sent back home if authorities back in Ghana give the order.
The hospital that operated on his daughter helped him renew his visa when it expired.
Eric, who needs to spend an equivalent of GH¢700 on accommodation weekly, says he majorly depends on his salary which his employers have been good enough to keep paying with a little support from his church and some friends.
“My company pays me alright… so we are living on my salary and some other help from other friends and looking at the money we spend a day per hotel it’s not easy. We’re paying about GH¢100 for a hotel in a day so that means in a week I have to pay about GH¢700 which means even if I’m to be paid GH¢2,000 or GH¢10,000 back in Ghana you can bear with me how much I’m spending only on accommodation aside food,” he said.
He further expressed his disapproval of government’s decision to make returnees pay for hotel accommodation during their mandatory quarantine period.
“We’ve stayed here, used almost all the money on us and we’re being told we’ll be sent to a 5-star, 4-star hotel which some of us, per our budget it’s more like a punishment to us. If I even go for a loan to pay this, within my heart, it’s not something that I’m willing to do but I’m just being pressured…”
But his daughter’s consistent cry for her mother is his major headache and it is for this reason Eric is calling on the government to allow them return home as soon as possible.
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