Kottarakkara: A 53-year-old Keralite woman, who left for Israel 14 years ago due to her family's financial liabilities, died of heart attack at a hospital in Tel Aviv, her relatives have received information.
The deceased is Jaya Vijayarajan, 53, a native of Kottarakkara in Kollam district.
Her husband Vijayarajan, who was working abroad, had returned home 20 years ago after he suffered a stroke. After this, the family faced financial woes and Jaya was forced to look for employment abroad.
She secured a job as a caretaker at a nursery school in Israel 14 years ago. But she could not return to her native land ever since.
Her Indian passport (E3879759) expired on February 23, 2013 but she did not renew it and continued to live in Israel illegally.
Only last year did Jaya inform her family about a renal disease she had been suffering from for years. Her husband then asked her to return and seek treatment in Kerala. However, she did not come back.
Jaya telephoned her relatives four months ago and said that she had been hospitalised for several months after her health deteriorated.
Around Rs 3.5 lakh was needed for her treatment expenses. Her family mortgaged their property and sent the money to meet her treatment expenses. But her life could not be saved. Jaya breathed her last around 3 pm on Friday.
Union Minister V Muraleedharan and Kodikunnil Suresh, MP, have been making arrangements to bring back her mortal remains from the Middle Eastern country.
Jaya is the daughter of late Devadas and Devaki from Veliyam in the district. Arya and Abu are her children, while Sharanya is her daughter-in-law.
"Our mother left for Israel in 2004, some fifteen years ago, when my father was sick and bedridden. She would send us money during the initial years which helped my sister study. She never came back home after she left," Abu said.
Jaya had kept in touch with the family and according to her son was "working as a labour supplier" in Israel.
"Every time we would ask her to come back she would say that she did not have the money to return," Abu said.
Jaya's flatmate from three years ago Lilly Yohannan, who is from Thiruvananthapuram, told PTI that she got a call from Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv on Friday. She was told Jaya was unwell.
Lilly went to the hospital to see Jaya and was informed about her friend's death due to kidney infection in the morning.
"Jaya had not been keeping well for sometime. She got both her eyes operated about four months back. She was also a severe diabetic", Lilly said.
"She came from a poor family in Kerala. She had no work recently and was surviving with the help of friends who were paying for her rent and buying her food. Her family in Kerala sold their land and other valuables to send 21,000 Shekels (about USD 6,000) for her eye operation," Lilly said.
Jaya was admitted to the hospital on December 11.
When contacted, the Indian mission said the family has expressed its inability to fund the transport for Jaya's body.
"The mission is taking necessary steps to send the mortal remains to India on priority", authorities said.
