NEWS FROM THE UAE
SOURCE : THE NATIONAL

Speeding drivers ‘creating road crisis’

Abu Dhabi - APR 08: Speeding by many young Emirati drivers is contributing to a “crisis” on the country’s roads, according to a UN world youth ambassador for road safety.

Basil Shaaban, a professional racing driver with the Prema Powerteam on the world Formula 3 circuit, said excessive speed was the main factor behind the UAE’s high road death toll, and he also called for all drivers to wear seat belts.

Speaking to a group of Emirati students, the Lebanese driver cited statistics from Abu Dhabi Health Authority, the Ministry of Interior and the UN. He said that in 2008, 424 people were killed on the capital’s roads and 1,071 in the country overall.

“These figures demonstrate that there’s a problem, a crisis, especially in the Emirates,” he said.

Young men in particular tended to speed excessively; he warned that more than 75 per cent of people killed on the roads were male.

Every 35 hours, a member of an Emirati family was lost in a traffic accident, he added. Road deaths could be cut by 50 per cent if drivers wore seat belts and obeyed speed limits.

The man described by many as the Arab world’s leading driver in F3 – a proven breeding ground for F1 drivers – made his presentation on Monday to students from the Higher Colleges of Technology.

He told them young people, especially in developing countries, were significantly more likely to be involved in traffic accidents, with Africa and the Middle East “competing for the worst statistics in this regard”.

Many drivers were unaware of the risks posed by flouting traffic rules and safety standards.

His presentation was part of a road safety awareness campaign launched in November in response to figures showing traffic accidents were the leading cause of death in the country and accounted for 70 per cent of total injuries.

The Salama Road Safety Public Awareness Initiative, involving several private companies, non-governmental organisations and government departments, aims to highlight the dangers of reckless driving, specifically among young Emiratis.

Mr Shaaban’s session included videos of road fatalities caused by careless driving and failure to use seat belts. One video concluded with the warning, “heaven can wait, belt up”.

Following his talk, Mr Shaaban argued at length with some students who disputed the effectiveness of seat belts.

Again citing health authority statistics, he told them the belts reduced the risk of injury by 45 per cent and the risk of death by 61 per cent. He said he had been involved in several car accidents and “would not have made it to the session” had he not been wearing a belt.

“All safety equipment is necessary but the seat belt is the most important.”

Mr Shaaban contrasted the country’s poor road safety record with that of England, where five deaths in every 100,000 annually are in traffic accidents; in the UAE in 2008, the figure was more than 20 in every 100,000.

“Traffic roads are designed for those who respect their own life and the lives of others, to reach their home at the end of the day safe and sound,” Mr Shaaban said. “Young people, especially, don’t seem to comprehend this fact.”

He urged young motorists to be responsible and “defend your lives and the lives of your beloved ones”.

He also told his audience:

Ÿ Motorcycle helmets reduced the risk and severity of head injuries by 70 per cent;

Ÿ Unrestrained children were 10 times more likely to die in traffic accidents;

Ÿ The use of mobile phones while driving increased the risk of collision by 300 per cent;

Ÿ Reducing speed by just 1kph would decrease fatal crashes by five per cent.

Maytha al Habsi, the director of the Takatof Programme for Social Volunteering, praised the initiative, saying it could lead to more stringent road safety laws.

“What’s unique about this initiative is that it involves government institutions as well as NGOs and private companies,” she said.

The Emirates Driving Company would provide technical and specialised knowledge on road safety and the Ministry of Interior would look at introducing new laws based on the campaign’s findings. The initiative also involves Abu Dhabi Health Authority, the Emirates Foundation and Shell.

“Unlike previous campaigns, there will be an evaluation of the outcomes of the campaign,” Ms Al Habsi said.

“We’re not going to only do campaigns here and there without a systematic approach. The statistics provided by specialised authorities would be used to assess progress throughout the year.”

She added that there were many influences on young people’s driving behaviour. “That’s why activities such as this are important because we will interact with young people and put our finger on the reasons why they behave in a particular way, such as refusing to wear their seat belt.”

Nesrin Sfeir, the manager of the public awareness programme at the Emirates Foundation, said its activities would focus on Emirati women, despite the fact that fewer women than men were involved in road accidents.

“That’s because if we educate them on safety, they will be more effective in passing this awareness to their peers and family,” she said, adding that many mothers did not put their children in car seat restraints.

Policeman recovering after Sharjah stabbing

SHARJAH - APR. 08: A Sharjah police officer is recovering from serious stab wounds after he was attacked while carrying out routine traffic checks.

The officer, Rashid Mohammed, 43, was stabbed on Monday as he and his colleagues conducted night patrols on King Faisal Road near Al Khan in Sharjah, police said.

He had stopped the vehicle with three occupants, all from Pakistan, and asked to see the licence of the driver and car ownership papers. A police spokesman said the driver drew a knife and stabbed the officer in the chest before running away.

Police suspected the car had been stolen, but later discovered this was not the case. The motive for the stabbing is unclear, the spokesman said.

Officers on the scene arrested the two other occupants of the car.

The stabbed policeman was taken to Al Qassimi Hospital. Staff said he was in stable condition yesterday and likely to be released in the next few days.

Several senior police officers, led by the deputy director general of Sharjah police, Col Abdullah Mubarak al Dukhan, visited the injured man in hospital yesterday. Col al Dukhan thanked him for his courage on the job.

The attacker was still at large last night, while the two men who were arrested remained in custody. It is not known if they have been charged.

Hospitals warned on waste disposal

ABU DHABI - APR 08: Hospitals and clinics that fail to dispose of medical waste safely could face fines and temporary closure, a Ministry of Health official has warned.

“We will fine any facility that does not comply with the regulations,” said Dr Najwa Kamalboor, from the preventive medicine department. “It is very important for everyone that the waste is disposed of properly, especially for the people working in the hospital.” In serious cases hospitals could be closed, she said.

Health bodies are strictly enforcing rules about the disposal of medical waste to avert threats to public health inside and outside the facilities. Inspection teams across the Emirates are checking that hospitals and clinics are following regulations, which include separating the waste into strict categories such as sharp objects, dressings and general administrative waste. Residents of Sharjah recently complained that exposed needles and bloodstained dressings were being illegally dumped in public rubbish bins. Officials from the ministry, which has jurisdiction over the northern Emirates, said it was working closely with the municipality to eradicate this practice.

Dr Ziad Memish, director of the GCC’s Centre for Infection Control, said proper waste management was essential: “You want to prevent any disease transmission and keep the environment clean and safe. Every facility needs to follow certain rules otherwise it will be complete chaos, and dangerous.”

All health ministries and health authorities in the GCC had their own policies on waste management, he said, but it was essential that authorities ensured they were implemented properly from start to finish.

 “There must be policies, inspections and penalties for those who do not manage their medical waste correctly,” he said. “It poses a very big public health risk that should not be underestimated.

“Sharp objects which could injure people, and microbiology samples that contain viruses, should not be in a public place under any circumstances.”

Dr Mansour al Zarouni, the chairman of infection control at Al Qassimi Hospital in Sharjah, said some of the smaller, private clinics were cutting corners to keep costs down.

“This should not happen but it does,” he said. “Some of the smaller clinics will think it is not that important. The worrying part is that certain bacteria can stay on medical waste a long time and then be passed through the air or by touch. Things like Hepatitis B and C are very easily transferred.”

The health authorities in Abu Dhabi and Dubai have their own policies on waste management.

The Health Authority-Abu Dhabi (HAAD), in its policy on Medical Waste Management in Health Care Facilities issued in May 2007, says infectious waste accounts for 15 to 25 per cent of the total; sharps waste – anything that can pierce the skin – about one per cent, body parts also one per cent; chemical or pharmaceutical three per cent. These are the most dangerous types of medical waste.

It adds: “Sharps waste, although produced in small quantities, is highly infectious. Poorly managed, they expose health care workers, waste handlers and the community to infections.”

The policy insists waste is split into specific categories using marked, coloured bags and containers.

Dr Jamal al Kaabi, head of the hospital and clinical inspection section at HAAD, said ignoring the strict regulations was not acceptable.

“Facilities need to separate all their waste and follow the HAAD policy,” he said. “They must not put non-medical waste with medical waste because it poses a risk both inside and outside the hospital. We look for problems where a doctor is putting paper, for example, in with medical waste produce. This is not the standard that is required. It needs to be separated properly and collected by a specialist company. Mixing them is not acceptable.”

Dr Kaabi said HAAD had been routinely checking that hospitals and clinics had infection control and waste management policies in place but was now becoming more vigilant in checking they were implemented.

“I would also like to introduce more continuing medical education lectures to help professionals understand the importance of this subject.”

Skilled staff deemed key to capital’s prosperity

ABU DHABI - APR 08: Abu Dhabi needs to focus on attracting highly skilled labour to ensure a sustainable economy, a senior official said yesterday as delegates from around the world gathered to discuss ways to build good cities.

Representatives from cities as far flung as Toronto and Taichung arrived in the capital for the two-day Global City 2009 conference where the buzzword was “inclusion”.

The concept is particularly apt in a place where most residents come from somewhere else, but it soon became clear Abu Dhabi was not alone in seeking a formula to cater for all of its disparate people.

Global City, which began in 2005, is being held outside France for the first time. More than 300 leaders and delegates, including 50 mayors, assembled at Emirates Palace to discuss a range of issues.

Richard Florida is the American author of Who’s Your City? and a professor and director at the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. His focus is social and economic theory, and his address about inclusion reverberated in other sessions throughout the day.

Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, Ahmad Mohammed Shareef, undersecretary of the Abu Dhabi Department of Municipal Affairs, acknowledged that the short-term nature of Abu Dhabi’s labour arrangements was a barrier to inclusion.

 Focusing on highly skilled labour, he said, would help Abu Dhabi in the long run. “I think it is the right of any nation to organise its development the best way that serves the economy in terms of sustainability.”

A poll that Mr Florida worked on with the research company Gallup in 2005 showed that while people required physical and economic security and knowing they would be able to support themselves and not be the targets of crime, they valued almost equally living in a city they perceived as open to everyone.

“This idea of having an inclusive city,” he said, “where everyone is valued and everyone can have a go and every individual can have an economic opportunity ... they were more likely to be excited about living in that city.”

Mr Florida said the concept of inclusion would be a key challenge for Abu Dhabi as it tried to accomplish a variety of goals amid such cultural and social disparity where many expatriates could claim residency but not citizenship.

Peter Woods from Australia, the secretary general for United Cities and Local Governments Asia Pacific, said inclusion went beyond making people feel good; it was the key to sustainable economic growth. “Success through immigration cannot be optimally achieved just by the sheer fact that they might be admitted to the country,” he said. “What matters is how they’ve been received ... people are not a commodity to be traded.”

The issue of inclusion spilled over into the closed-door meetings and workshops that were part of the leader’s summit, held in conjunction with the public forums at Global City. Much of the focus in those sessions – Salah al Shamsi, the chairman of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Federation of UAE Chambers of Commerce and Industry was one of the attendees – was on the challenge of keeping city dwellers mobile.

But the sessions revealed that the concepts of mobility and social inclusion were seen as closely related; enabling people to move easily around their municipalities could make them feel more involved and valued, said Mireille Apel-Muller, the chief executive of the City on the Move Institute in Paris.

The introduction and expansion of a city bus system over the past year had been an example of the Government’s dedication to this concept, she said.

“In Abu Dhabi, public transportation is more used by people who are at a low social level, and that transport is very subsidised, and it’s a political choice for such inclusion,” she said.

Inclusion even extended to culture, Mr Florida said. While high culture – the “great museums” that will eventually grace Saadiyat Island – was important, offerings at street level were also needed to ensure “the diverse peoples who settle and work here have cultural outlets”.