NEWS FROM THE UAE
SOURCE : THE NATIONAL/ARABIAN BUSINESS/
Rise in search-and-rescue calls
DUBAI - NOV 12: A rise in the number of helicopter search-and-rescue missions this year has stretched the resources of the Air Force and police, according to the commander of the Air Force Medical Centre.
The number of calls has already exceeded the 2007 total, leading to a call from Major Nasser al Nuaimi for more collaboration between the Air Force, police and health services, particularly in the use of helicopters.
Helicopters increasingly are being used to provide emergency medical care in different terrain and diverse locations. Apart from search-and-rescue operations, they are used for emergency hospital transfers and humanitarian missions.
Major Nuaimi outlined the challenges facing the rescue services. “The first is to ensure that we collaborate fully with each other to avoid duplication of effort and resources,” he said.
He also cited a lack of trained paramedics. “They are the lifesavers but are almost impossible to recruit.”
Major Nuaimi spoke at the Aero-Med conference at the Dubai Helishow at the Airport Expo. The event brings together experts from across the world to share new technologies and discuss solutions to the issues faced in providing medical care by air.
Technological advances are important for the rescue services to save more lives, said Lt Mohammad Ali of the Abu Dhabi Police Air Wing.
“We have recently replaced our fleet of helicopters. Greater speed will enable us to arrive at the scene earlier and therefore have a greater chance of saving lives in critical cases. Increased fuel capacity will enable us to cover greater distances and therefore carry out rescues in remote areas,” he said.
This year the air wing has rescued 220 people, compared with 152 in 2007. All helicopters carry artificial breathing and suction equipment, defibrillators and specialist tools to extract people trapped in vehicles or in the wild.
While the number of search-and-rescue missions rose, the air ambulances were being asked to take on an increasing number of roles, Lt Ali said.
“Many of our calls come from abroad. We regularly fly to Oman and Yemen as these are popular destinations and people often get into trouble during the journey. Recently we have flown to Pakistan to provide humanitarian aid and we are also asked to provide air security to visiting dignitaries. All these factors mean that we cannot focus solely on search and rescue.”
One of the reasons the air ambulance service is under so much pressure is the policy of developing specialised health facilities in the country.
The Centre of Excellence policy of providing specialist care in particular hospitals means helicopters are needed to transport patients from one site to another for emergency operations. Patients have to be flown because the roads are clogged with traffic.
Major Nuaimi said there was always a risk of catastrophe.
“We have been lucky that we have not had to deal with a large-scale incident. However, it is imperative that we increase levels of collaboration between all the services to ensure that we could deal with a catastrophe if it came. This is why we are looking to work with the international air medicine community.
“There have been some wonderful examples of the use of helicopters in disaster management and we need to adopt those lessons and be as prepared as we can be.”
He explained some of the cultural specifics that make air rescue in the UAE particularly difficult.
“We find that women will refuse to be treated by a male paramedic. Also, you can imagine that space is limited in a helicopter, so if a patient’s entire family insists on accompanying them it creates difficulties.
“Although we can learn from international experience we have to provide a tailored service, to meet our own specific needs.”
THE NATIONAL
Dubai Mall car parks baffle drivers
DUBAI - NOV 12: Extra staff have been hired by Dubai’s newest shopping centre to alleviate traffic chaos and help prevent drivers from getting lost in its expansive car parks.
Shoppers flocking to Dubai Mall in its opening week were caught for hours in traffic jams on roads into the centre, while many became disorientated once inside the car parks.
The centre’s owner, Emaar Properties, said it was appointing staff to help direct traffic and would try to encourage people to use the car park’s ticket system, which helps pinpoint vehicles.
The Dubai Mall has 14,000 spaces in three parks, two of which have more than 10 levels.
The need for such measures was still evident this week, with shoppers getting lost on the way in and hunting for vehicles on the way out.
On Monday afternoon in the car park, one man said he was walking around for 25 minutes looking for his car. “I have not found it yet. I know it is this level but I don’t have a clue where it is.
Omar Alexander said it was the first time he had managed to get inside the centre after aborting several attempts because of heavy traffic.
He said the routes into the mall were confusing. “On our way here, and it has happened before, we have ended up in building sites,” Mr Alexander said. Signs leading through the car park also appear to have confused many shoppers with some saying it was not easy to navigate.
Another shopper, Susan Howell said: “It took about 30 minutes to get into the car park and another 20 minutes to find a parking space. Cars looking for spaces had to join a line of cars in search of the exit. It didn’t really work too well.”
Amanda Bradshaw, from Australia, said her taxi missed the drop-off point on the way in and drove around the car park for more than 15 minutes. “We had to stop three times and ask for directions.”
An Emaar spokesman said the management was working closely with the authorities to ensure easy access to the shopping centre, and that several access roads had been opened to help.
“For a mall of global significance and international appeal, strong visitor inflow is natural. This was particularly so in the first weekend following the mall’s opening. The authorities are working on further strengthening the traffic and road infrastructure, which will benefit visitors.”
Temporary staff are directing visitors in and out of the mall and temporary signs were installed to support the permanent signs during the peak opening period, the Emaar spokesman said.
The ticket system in the car park would also help drivers, and all levels of the park are colour-coded and carry a letter and number.
THE NATIONAL
Diabetes centre offers online monitoring
DUBAI - NOV 12: The first dedicated diabetes centre for children opened yesterday, the latest step in the country’s fight to control an illness that is growing alarmingly among young people.
The UAE has the second highest rate of the disease in the world, with the majority of victims suffering from Type 2 diabetes.
“Children and parents have a problem in lack of education on the disease,” said Dr Abdulrazzaq al Madani, the chairman of the Emirates Diabetes Society. “We aim at teaching them how to manage their food, their insulin, their lifestyle and exercise.”
The Juvenile Diabetes Education Center, in Dubai’s Healthcare City, opened in the same week as World Diabetes Day, which falls on Friday.
Also this week, staff from Sheikh Khalifa Medical City’s Diabetes and Endocrinology Center launched a major programme in government schools to educate pupils about risk factors for the disease. The diabetes centre will offer an online 24-hour monitoring system, which will enable parents and doctors to keep track of the blood-sugar levels of children with the condition at all times.
The aim is to allow children and their families to manage the disease on a daily basis at home and at school so the children can live as normally as possible.
Children with diabetes will be able to take their blood-sugar level daily, download it to a programme on their mobile phones and send the results to the centre’s website via SMS, Dr Mohammed Khaled, the centre’s manager said. There it can be monitored and a suitable lifestyle programme drawn up.
The centre, run in partnership with the Johnson and Johnson Corporate Citizenship Trust, opens at a time when diabetes and obesity are becoming an increasing problem among the young. Diabetes is estimated to be as high as one in five, with statistics from the World Health Organisation stating it could affect 70 per cent of UAE residents.
THE NATIONAL
Action call as report highlights $2.7bn diabetes bill
UAE - NOV 12:TESTING TIMES: A simple blood test could help to detect diabetes early, says health chiefs. (Getty Images)New research claims that diabetes will cost the UAE an estimated 10 billion dirhams ($2.7 billion) by 2020 if action is not taken to tackle the growing problem.
The alarming figure comes in a report initiated by the National Health Insurance Company (Daman) which says that even though diabetes represents only five per cent of their health insurance claims, it was the UAE's biggest health problem, UAE daily Gulf News reported on Wednesday.
Dr Alfons Grabosch, Consultant for disease management at Daman told the paper that an average of 15,000 dirhams is currently spent on diabetes per person a year.
"Everyone who's a payer (patient and government) will end up paying more for diabetic related conditions than ever before if the condition is not tackled immediately," added Grabosch.
According to reports published by the World Health Organisation (WHO) the UAE has the second highest diabetes prevalence in the world with 19.6 per cent of population - with approximately 150 million people worldwide living with the condition and the number is expected to double by 2025.
Dr Cother Hajat, head of Public Health Programmes at the Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD), has also published data showing that the current prevalence among UAE nationals aged 30 to 64 is 29 per cent, of which nearly half are undiagnosed and a further 24 per cent are at risk.
Dr Jad Aoun, chief medical officer at Daman, urged people to stay active, follow a healthy diet and undergo a blood test to test for diabetes as ways of helping to fight the disease.
ARABIAN BUSINESS
Burj Dubai property prices fall
UAE - NOV 12: According to Sherwoods, property prices within the Burj Dubai tower have declined by an average of 22 per cent. Paulo Vecina / The National
Residential prices for Emaar Properties’s signature Downtown Burj Dubai development have fallen by at least 22 per cent, with reductions of up to 50 per cent within the Burj Dubai tower itself, according to property brokers.
Some high-end developments in Abu Dhabi are also recording significant price declines in the secondary market, where properties change hands after being sold by the developer.
The price corrections underscore how the credit crunch and prospects of a global recession are affecting the property market, particularly high-end developments.
According to statistics from the international estate agents Hamptons, which is owned by Emaar, prices in the Downtown Burj Dubai area rose 88 per cent in the year to September. Other brokers said some prices more than doubled.
“This is indicative of the whole marketplace,” said Vincent Easton, the head of sales at Sherwoods property agency in Dubai. “Downtown [Burj Dubai] had quite a sharp spike in pricing. Anything that has a sharp spike is open to a correction if the market slows. Really, ultimately we will see the correct level.”
Sherwoods, which closely monitors transactions at the development, said it had observed an average decline of 22 per cent, excluding the Burj Dubai tower. Prices in the tower – scheduled to become the tallest in the world – increased the most, and have subsequently fallen sharply. Prices outside the tower fell from an average of Dh3,500 (US$952) per square foot to Dh2,700, Sherwoods said. “When you exclude Burj Dubai from the area, you get a more realistic idea of the decline in the development,” said a market research officer at Sherwoods. Flats on 8 Boulevard Walk, for instance, dropped from Dh3,300 per sq ft to Dh2,500 per sq ft in three weeks – a 24 per cent decrease.
Sujeeva De Silva, another Dubai-based property consultant, said prices in the Old Town quarter of the development had fallen 30 per cent in the past month, along with nearly 20 per cent at the South Ridges and Residences areas.
Price fluctuations in the Burj Dubai tower had been far more volatile because of the high percentage of speculators owning the properties, brokers said. Some had since been sold at significant losses to generate cash, they added. The most expensive floors, such as those branded by Armani, sold at about Dh14,000 per sq ft and were holding much of their value.
“Burj Dubai area was supposed to be the hottest and highest selling area. Now things have changed. The owners over there are in distress. They are desperate to sell with zero premiums, or minus premiums,” said Juned Ali, a senior property consultant at Alamfa Real Estate. Mr Ali said that many short-term investors feared they would forfeit on looming payment deadlines.
Parthasarthi Reddy, the client relations manager at Zagy Properties, a brokerage firm based in Dubai, said the prices of units in Downtown Burj Dubai had suffered the biggest drops in the city so far. Emaar declined to make a spokesman available to comment on the Burj Dubai project.
Downtown Burj Dubai is Emaar’s flagship project, a mixed-use urban development that includes high-end residential properties, office space and retail. The centrepiece of the area that will spread across 200 hectares is the iconic Burj Dubai, due for completion next year. The project is close to the Dubai International Financial Centre and includes Dubai Mall – one of the largest shopping malls in the world – which opened earlier this month.
“Once Burj Dubai is completed, the inner circle of 25km in the emirate will be one of the dearest residential areas in the world,” Dirk Sassen, a shareholder in the German property investment fund ICT, said in June.
Abu Dhabi’s high-end developments have also been affected. As is the case in Dubai, properties in projects that drew the most attention from speculators last year have recorded the most pronounced declines. Brokers said that many of the buyers appeared to have no intention of holding on to the property long enough to make the first required payments to keep possession of it.
“Al Reem Island has seen quite a harsh reality check, because that was a real speculative market,” Mr Easton said. “You had actually 95 per cent speculators who had no intention of doing further payments. Residential properties in some cases [are now put into the market] at minus 15 per cent premium.”
According to Susan Cronin, the general manager of Aljar Properties, a broker based in Abu Dhabi, only prices involving bulk deals have decreased. “A floor of offices that was offered in Al Shams Abu Dhabi at Dh2,500 per sq ft three weeks ago is now being offered at Dh2,100,” she said.
Investors who bought properties on Reem Island at up to Dh2,700 per sq ft during Cityscape in May are expected to be the hardest hit if they intend to resell now. “Someone who is looking to exit today will have no choice than resell at around Dh1,800 per sq ft,” Mr Easton said. “The best thing people should do if they can is to hold.”
“Burj Dubai is an amazing area, but it will take a little more time [to make money]. You should have a capacity to hold on to it. This is not the seller’s market any more. It has become the buyer’s market now,” Mr Ali said.
THE NATIONAL
75,000 register for ID cards in four weeks
UAE - NOV 12: ID RUSH: 75,000 have registered for the new ID card in the past four weeks.Post offices have seen a dramatic increase in the number of people registering for the National ID cards during the past month, it has been revealed.
In the four weeks since Emirates Post offices started distributing and accepting registration forms, more than 75,000 forms have been collected by members of the public across the UAE, news agency WAM reported.
The government plans to register approximately 400,000 expatriates by the end of 2008, but the system has been hit by problems with many people previously unable to get appointments at Emirates Identity Authority (EID) centres.
People that fail to obtain national ID cards on time will lose the right to use government-related services.
Ibrahim bin Karam, CEO of Emirates Post, said: "We have made arrangements to handle the rush. We urge all customers to start the process early to avoid chaos when the deadline draws near.
"The post offices are fully geared to meet the demand of applicants, and our staff has been specially trained to handle queries from our customers. We are working closely with EID officials to smoothen the whole process."
Members of the public can buy special envelopes (priced at 40 dirhams) from post offices, containing a registration form which can be filled in and submitted to any post office counter.
Emirates Post will then send the completed forms to the applicant through their PO Box, giving the date on which he can go to the EID centre to submit the form.
ARABIAN BUSINESS