The death of a dentist in Sharjah comes just two years after her brother died in an accident, according to a family member. It was on Monday morning that Dr Afina Basheer suddenly collapsed and died at home.
Raheem, a relative of Afina’s husband Yasser, confirmed that this was the second tragedy to hit Afina’s family in a very short span of time. “Her brother was killed in an accident two years ago in India,” he said. “He was also a doctor. He was the only brother to Afina and her two sisters. The family had barely recovered from that shock when this happened.”
Afina and Yasser have two daughters, aged 3.5 and 1.5. Hailing from the southern Indian state of Kerala, the couple had been living in Sharjah for four years. Trained as a dentist, Afina had taken a break from her career to look after her children.
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Raheem added that the family are struggling to explain their mother’s absence to the children. “The children keep asking for her and we told them that she is in the hospital,” said.
“They are sometimes stubborn and start crying. We don’t know how to tell them anything. They are so small. We are not even sure if they will understand. Right now, we are all rallying around and taking turns caring for them.”
On Tuesday, Yasser told Khaleej Times that Afina was “perfectly healthy” and had shown no signs of illness.
The family is currently focusing on getting her mortal remains to India.
“There is a lot of paperwork to complete,” said Raheem. “We have to get the forensic report and death certificate before we can repatriate her body.”
He added that the family were hoping to get all the paperwork done by Thursday so that they can proceed with the burial in India over the weekend. The couple had gone on vacation to India over the summer break and had returned on August 19.
Earlier this year, two Indian expats collapsed and died while playing sports in Dubai and last year, two teenagers also died in a similar manner.
Source: Khaleej Times