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Dubai: News of the abandoned 61-year-old Finnish woman, who has been in a semi-vegetative state in a Dubai Hospital for almost five years, made front page news in Finland.
Gulf News reported on August 6 that Anna Leena Mirjami Agnew has been alone in a Dubai Hospital after suffering a heart attack in January 2004. She slipped into a coma. Her husband, a UK national, David Agnew, left for Saudi Arabia where they were living, supposedly to arrange for her repatriation but never returned.
Subsequent letters sent by the hospital and three Finnish families in the UAE to the Finnish government asking them to repatriate Agnew have not received a favourable response.
Agnew's story was picked up by newspapers in Finland and Austrian daily Die Presse. The report has generated dozens of furious comments.
Jani Pakarri, a journalist at daily Ilta-sanomat, told Gulf News there were 50 responses on the story within one hour of posting it on the paper's website.
"People are angry that nobody is taking charge of her case. People are upset, asking how this could have happened. There are many criticisms against the Foreign Ministry," he said via the telephone. Matti Mikkola, a Dubai resident from Finland who has been trying to help get Agnew home, seconded the sentiment. "There is a huge uproar from the community," he said.
Finnish news outlets quoted the Finnish Foreign Ministry as saying they were working on a solution, which was the same response the Finnish Embassy in Abu Dhabi gave to Gulf News. However, there were no details on what the solution was.
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