Middle East

Nepali psychiatrist guidance for Nepalese in Oman

Oman has quietly become one of the steadier Gulf destinations for Nepali labour migration, with large numbers working in construction, security, hospitality, retail and domestic work across Muscat, Sohar, Salalah and Sur, almost all on employer-sponsored work visas. Contracts of two years are common, often without a home visit in between, and long shifts through Oman's intense summer heat are frequently combined with shared labour accommodation that leaves little privacy for a phone call, let alone a video appointment. The steady pressure of sending remittances home, distance from spouse and children for years at a stretch, and a workplace culture where raising a health concern, especially a mental health concern, can feel risky to job security all build up quietly over a contract. Domestic workers, most of them women living within an employer's household, face an additional layer of isolation with very limited free time and little contact with other Nepalis. Many describe not having language for what they're feeling beyond 'homesickness,' when months of accumulated strain have in fact become a genuine depressive or anxiety disorder that deserves proper treatment rather than quiet endurance.