NEW DELHI: Latest reports suggest that the United Arab Emirates has requested the Indian government to send doctors and nurses to help the Emirates fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

It must be noted that the UAE has already reported 11,000 Covid-19 cases and has been reporting an average of 500 new cases every day.

The country relies heavily on foreign-educated doctors and paramedics including those from India to staff its hospitals.

Some of them were on leave when both Indian and UAE governments suspended all commercial flights due to the coronavirus outbreak.

According to sources, the central government has received a request to allow the healthcare providers who were travelling to India when commercial flights were cancelled to return to UAE to resume their duties.

The UAE has also apparently sought permission to hire or avail the services of doctors and nurses for a shorter duration to tide over the immediate crisis.

While stating that the requests are being considered by the government, the source added that Abu Dhabi has also offered to send a special flight to fly the Indian healthcare professionals employed by its hospitals.